The Witch and the Hero!
by Liselle Leicester
Summary: Alice Kirkland has always been avoided by everyone in the school because of a rumor that claims her to be a witch. Despite this rumor, Alfred F. Jones decided to make friends with her...no matter how hard Alice tried to push him away from her-especially when she knows what will happen to Alfred when he gets involved in her life- again. *Supernatural will come along later on...*
1. Chapter 1

**First of all, I DO NOT own Hetalia (obviously)…**

This is my first Hetalia FanFic…and I think my first chapter's sloppy. Ugh…

Anyhow, here goes Chapter 1~!

* * *

Chapter I

"Alice?"

Alice Kirkland slowly opened her eyes and found her sister's big sky blue eyes looking into her peridot green eyes.

"Hmm?" was all she managed to say.

"They're still asleep," her little sister said in a whisper.

"I-is that so…?" Alice glanced at her alarm clock. _4:59 in the morning_. She immediately got the clock and turned off its alarm. As if she's risk it. Why would she want everyone in the house wide awake? She placed the alarm clock on the small cabinet beside her bed and sighed.

"Sorry for waking up late again, Sam…" Alice brushed her fingers through Samantha's mocha brown hair. Sam smiled at her sister and nodded "It's okay. I know that _**she**_ made you work overtime again," Samantha emphasized the word _she_. Alice snickered as she rose up from her bed and stretched up both of her arms. She suddenly felt a pang of pain somewhere at her lower back, making her frown. She tried not to show any form of violent reaction in front of Samantha in order to spare the little Kirkland from worrying.

"Just keep quiet while you wait for me, okay? Give me fifteen minutes." Alice said without glancing at Samantha as she headed to the bathroom to take a bath.

* * *

They have decided to keep the lights off so that none of the other members of the family would be awakened. The dim light from the lamppost outside their house served as their light as they ate their breakfast.

"You're too young to drink coffee, Sam…" Alice said with a drop of sarcasm and amusement evident in the tone of her voice. Samantha glared at her as she took a sip from her mug of black coffee. "I'm already twelve, Alice. I'm old enough to drink coffee," Samantha put her mug on the table between the two of them and crossed her arms over her chest. Alice suppressed a chuckle as she finished drinking her Earl Grey tea. "Is that so? Very well then," she stood up and patted Samantha's head "you should find a way to grow taller!" Before they managed to laugh together, they heard a door from one of the rooms upstairs creak. Alice immediately covered her sister's lips and waited for any sound that would help her identify the person who woke up. Instead of hearing a voice or anything helpful, she heard footsteps. "Sam, hide." Alice ordered. Without any questions, Samantha hid under the table and embraced her knees.

The person opened the lights of the living room. Alice did not dare herself to blink as the footsteps finally stopped. She took a deep breath as she counted inside her head…

_Three…_

_Two…_

_One!_

She snapped her fingers and the person simply smirked as he showed himself. "It's not really advisable to perform _that_ right now, Alice. It's just 5:18 in the morning." Alice glared at the person and rubbed her fingers together, lifting the restriction spell she casted.

"I'm not trying to do anything, Rowan. Leave me alone." Alice defended herself. She felt Sam poking her shoes, which made her more nervous.

"I would suggest that you get going now, Alice…" he sat on his knees and met the gaze of the younger Kirkland "…and you too, Samantha." Rowan no longer waited for Alice to reply as he turned his back and left the Kirkland sisters alone. Samantha left her hiding place, looking at Alice with confusion evident in her sky blue eyes "Um…what was that all about?"

"N-Nothing. Let's leave before they catch us."

* * *

Alice dropped off Samantha at the Grade 6 building and gave her little sister a tight hug before she left the building. It was just 6:29 in the morning and they were one of the first few students who arrived in school. It was also raining like hell but Alice did not really mind…

…or so she thought.

She suddenly remembered Rowan's calm aqua eyes looking into her green eyes. Of course, it felt so awkward! If there was a word that bypassed awkward existed, that's how she'd describe the feeling. Oh sure, they are siblings, but it's only thanks to a pile of **legal documents**.

"_What the bloody hell am I thinking? Snap out of it, Alice!"_ she scolded herself internally. She suddenly stopped in her tracks as the hallway disappeared in her view and instead, she started to _"see"_ again. She managed to blink but the things that she was seeing were still there.

She hated seeing visions. She always did.

"Dammit, not again…" Alice stepped aside the hallway and leaned her back against a pillar and fell into her knees. She looked down and took a deep breath. She was already used with the visions—she knew that very well…but _this_ vision drew the line.

She saw this a lot of times already…yet she was not prepared for it.

She took another deep breath and clutched her head with her right hand, obviously frustrated. Finally, the vision ended and she saw normal things again. She was glad that no one was there to witness what happened to her.

Well, even if there was someone out there who witnessed the whole thing, the person would choose to simply ignore her.

"Of all the times you could've returned…" she stood up and picked up her books from the ground. The high school building was just a hallway far from her reach. After picking up her books, she started walking again "…why _now_?"

* * *

It's already 8:16 in the morning but their Homeroom teacher has not yet shown up. Of course, just like any ordinary class would do when a teacher's **still** "Missing in Action", the class savored the freedom by talking and making noise. As the class kept on talking and talking as if tomorrow would never ever come for them, Alice sat quietly on her chair, reading a book.

"Hey! Alice!"

A girl with wavy black hair and vermilion eyes clasped her hands on Alice's shoulders. Alice glanced at the girl and closed the book she was reading. "Do you need anything, Ellerie?" Alice asked. Ellerie Vermilion, the only student in the campus whom Alice Kirkland considered as her 'friend'. They became friends since they were in seventh grade. Ellerie, on the other hand, considered Alice as her younger sister since she was not blessed with a 'legit sibling' (that's how Ellerie said it).

"Oh…I was just wondering, you see…" Ellerie blinked after her eyes met the gaze of her friend.

A short pause.

"Ellerie?" Alice pulled down the sleeve of Ellerie's pastel-colored cardigan, effectively returning the vermilion-eyed girl to reality.

"O-oh! I mean…um…erm…I was just wondering why our HR teacher's not yet around. T-that's all…"

For one thing that Alice knew about Ellerie, the vermilion-eyed girl always spaced out.

"Rumors said that…" Ellerie sat on the floor and took Alice's book. She looked at book then placed it on her lap "…there'll be a transferee." Ellerie's face was unreadable, the tone of her voice stoic. Alice glanced at the classroom's entrance door then she waited for Ellerie to continue. "From what I have heard, he migrated here all by himself…or I think he's with his sister."

"Where'd you get all these information, Elle?"

Ellerie placed the book on Alice's desk and smiled at her "I don't think you have to ask something so obvious, Alice." Ellerie said in monotone. She returned to her place without saying another word. By the time Ellerie has sat down, that's when the teacher entered, summoning silence in the classroom.

"Sorry for being late, stud'nts." The Homeroom teacher placed her folder and a pile of papers on the teacher's desk and looked at the time. "I'll just introduce the new student and we're done here…it seems that I'm awfully late…" the teacher _tsked_, making all of the students quieter. "…anyhow, I know that you've been hearing rumors about the transferee—"

"Uh…" one of the popular girls in the class raced her hand "…so the transferee's a _he_, riiiiiight?"

"Yeah. The transferee's a _he_, Kat…" the teacher said, making the girl squeal. Everyone else in the classroom laughed, except for Alice and Ellerie.

"Let's cut the suspense now, shall we?" the teacher went outside to fetch the transferee. The popular girls whispered among one another.

"_He's mine, damn it. Shush!"_

"_Hell, no! He's __mine__."_

"_Suckers. Do you really think he'll like any of you? In your dreams, bitches."_

"_Look who's talking."_

Alice will never ever understand popular people. _Never_—

By the time the transferee entered the classroom, all hell broke loose. The girls in the class were immediately love struck, sending chills down to Alice's spine. The transferee had short, dusty blonde hair and an ahoge. He –almost- had the same color of Samantha's eyes, except the color of his eyes were lighter, paler plus he had grey glasses. He wore a dark blue shirt, fitted black jeans and a pair of black Converse.

"Yo, everyone! I'm Alfred F. Jones!" the transferee said and winked, making all the girls in the classroom squeal like fan girls. _The heck_, Alice thought, _something's terribly wrong with these girls…_

"Girls! Girls! Shut your mouths! It's just eight in the morning!" the teacher hit the board with her right palm twice; making half of the girls shut their mouths. "Good grief! I don't want to hear someone reporting that one of you—" she pointed several of the girls who were fan girling a few seconds ago, her eyes squinted "—_taking him home for yourselves_, got that?"

A few heartbeats of silence.

"Good. Now, please sit between Kirkland and Vermilion," the teacher pointed the empty seat right next to Alice. Alice looked down as her new seatmate made his way to the chair. She could feel 90% of the girls in the classroom were glaring daggers at her. When Alfred has already seated down, Ellerie immediately exchanged a few words with him, taking the girls' attention away from Alice.

"So, why are you here?" Ellerie's question sounded more of an _inquisition_—an icy and unwelcoming one, that is. Fortunately, Alfred did not notice it. "Nothing, really. My parents made me choose a place to study and I chose this place. I don't know why, though." The _I-don't-know_ part made Alice more uncomfortable.

"Oh…are you with your family?" the iciness was still in the tone of Ellerie's voice. "Nah, I'm just with my sister. We're just being financially supported by our parents." Ellerie nodded and smiled at Alfred "Be a kind seatmate, okay? Otherwise, you might—"

The bell finally rang, making Ellerie nod and discontinue her sentence. Now, Alfred looked at Alice.

"Get your butts ready for Statistics, okay? I don't want to hear Mr. _Pun_-squared commenting that my students are damn lazy and all that! Got that?" the teacher shouted with sarcasm and finally left the classroom.

As the Statistics teacher entered the room, the students grew silent. The so-called Mr. _Pun_-squared squinted his eyes as he wore his glasses. No one dared to make any unnecessary sound. He cleared his throat, opened the Statistics book and wrote a problem on the board.

_The first term (A__1__) of an arithmetic sequence is 19 while its ninth term (A__9__) is -37. Find the common difference (d) of the sequence._

"This is just a morning drill, class. I hope you can get the correct answer without any trouble. I'm giving you a minute to answer this." The teacher leaned back against the blackboard, watching the students answer the drill.

While everyone was answering the drill, Alfred swore internally.

Alice noticed that Alfred was not answering the drill. She was thinking whether she'd help him or leave him alone. Who knows, maybe the mean girls of the class might actually send death glares at her if she dared to make any form of communication with him.

_Help him out, Alice. You know you want to._

She closed her notebook and faced the board, ignoring _that_ voice inside her head, telling her to lend Alfred a hand.

"Time's up, class! Now…" the teacher looked at Alfred "…would _you _mind writing the solution on the board, Mr. Jones?" the teacher pointed his finger at Alfred's desk "It seems that you answered it mentally, anyway."

Alfred stood up but did not go to the board right away. Of course, he _forgot_ how to get the common _crap_ of an arithmetic sequence. Knowing this, Alice stood up and went in front of the board instead.

"Ms. Kirkla—"

"If you wouldn't mind, I'd be the one to answer for him." Alice said as she began writing the solution on the board.

"S-Sure. You may sit down now, Mr. Jones." the teacher said, trying to hide his annoyance. The other girls were murmuring among themselves, which made Ellerie shot a glare at them. Alfred poked Ellerie's shoulder.

"Why'd she do that, _Vermil_?" he asked, obviously curious…and embarrassed at the same time. Ellerie looked at Alice then at Alfred "She's really like that. Let's just say that…" she tapped her desk with her pencil "…she did that for her own good."

Alice encircled her final answer but did not face the class. She took a deep breath and went out of the classroom without asking for the teacher's permission. As she closed the door behind her, she could hear the girls talking among themselves again. She closed the door with a silent _thud_ and took a deep breath again.

"What the bloody hell did I just do? Dammit." Alice crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. Now, she just made herself more hateful in the eyes of the girls in school. Using grades as an alibi might not work. She sat on her knees and allowed time to pass.

The bell finally rang, telling the whole level that it's already recess time. When the Statistics teacher went out of the classroom, Alice stood up and tried not to meet the gaze of her Stat teacher. Luckily, he did not really give a damn about what she did in class a while ago—

"Hey! Wait up!" upon hearing Alfred's voice, she turned her back and tried to walk away but he was able to grab her hand. She did not try to struggle free, afraid that it might attract attention.

"What do you want?" Alice asked icily.

"You really didn't have to save me during Stat, ya know…" Alfred said. Alice glanced at Alfred then sighed "I did not save you. I did it for my own benefit—"

"You don't have to come up with an excuse. I know it's kinda embarrassing to be saved by a girl but—"

"I did _not_ save you, Alfred." Alice tried to break her arm free from his grip but ended up failing.

"Just lemme thank you properly okay? I'm not gonna kill you or anything! Uh…name, please?" Alfred's grip tightened, causing Alice to frown—internally.

"Alice. Alice Kirkland." she replied firmly, trying to ignore the death glares of the girls from the locker area.

"Well then, thank you for the save, Alice! See ya around!" Alfred finally let go of Alice's arm and left her in the corridor. Ellerie came out of nowhere and looked at Alfred with her vermilion orange eyes.

"They are glaring daggers at you, Alice." Ellerie said, her face expressionless. Alice facepalmed and leaned her back against the white wall "I know…"

"I'll be the one to go to the caf to buy food for you, okay? Just…just try your best to stay out of trouble…" and with that, Ellerie left her to buy food in the cafeteria. Alice shook her head wearily and entered the classroom, trying to forget whatever has just happened. On the moment she entered the classroom, someone pulled her by the sleeve of her shirt. With that, she smacked herself internally and remained silent.

She might as well prepare herself to be burned down—especially that she's all by herself.

* * *

**FINALLY DONE WITH CHAPTER 1.**

**OHMAGAHD. WHERE'S IGGY? **_**God, I don't know. **_**xD**

I wrote most of the chapter during lessons (yeah, I'm such a good student, right?)…

Might not be able to update immediately…since the mid-terms are around the corner…

**WE'RE GONNA HAVE OUR ALGEBRA TEST ON ****FRIDAY THE 13****th****. **

Seriously?

I'll write during my lessons (if I can—and it's not against my will, anyway.) but I might not be able to post it here ASAP.

That's all for now… =))


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.**

Hell week almost killed me. I never expected the Sophomore Vibes to give me **this** amount of stressful 'crap'...

Anyhow, here's Chapter 2~

* * *

Chapter II

"Bloody hell no—"

Alice hit the person behind her with her elbow and tried to run away but the person did not let her go.

"A-Alice! It's just me! Calm down!"

After hearing the person's voice, Alice was immediately hit by a pang of guilt. She waited for the person to let go of her shirt's sleeve. When the person finally did, she faced her and apologized.

"Good heavens. I'm so sorry, Leanie."

Leanie Avirre nodded and looked around. Leanie Avirre—a girl whose height is 5'4 with silky black hair that reached her elbows, brown eyes and natural pinkish white cheeks—is one of the few beings in the campus that did not allow the _rumor_ to hinder herself from becoming friends with Alice. Although Alice did not tell her that they are officially friends, Leanie did not care. For her, Alice is her friend.

"Word travels _really_ fast, you know…" Leanie gently pushed Alice into their classroom and closed the door behind them. There were only a few number of students inside the classrooms—0 popular students spotted—which made Leanie relieved.

"Another rumor?" Alice asked even if she already knew what her self-proclaimed friend will tell her.

"'_That witch casted a spell on the transferee. How dirty of her…'_" Leanie quoted, trying to mimic how she heard the new rumor after Alice left the room during Statistics. Alice looked down for a few seconds and sighed heavily. _So here goes another rumor about me using my 'powers' for my own interest. When will they stop spreading rumors about me…?_ she asked herself.

"And…you still don't believe it?" Alice asked stoically. Leanie shook her head and tilted her head to her right smiling with sincerity "Of course, not! I'm not like those _Alpha Bitches _and their preppy lil' squad!" Leanie glanced at her watch and frowned "Gotta go now—Committee Heads' meeting! See ya!" she opened the door and left the classroom.

_Why won't she believe those blasted rumors? Is it all right for her to be judged by those cruel people just because she's friends with me? Isn't she hurt? _Alice had all these kinds of thoughts running inside her head right now.

"The friends of that Witch will be considered as someone non-existent in this society."

That's the solid rule that all those 'Alpha Bitches' have established during seventh grade. She no longer tried to clean her name because no matter how hard she tried to do so, another rumor would waste all her efforts.

_Ellerie Vermilion…_

_Leanie Avirre…_

…and now, Alfred F. Jones might end up being included in the list of _"The Witch's Nonexistent Friends_"—just because of what she did during Statistics.

* * *

"Hey, Alfred…" Alfred glanced back and met the purple eyes of his sister. She held her World History textbook with one arm. "Meggy! 'Sup?" Alfred chimed. Meghan managed a smile "Y-You're so…popular now, Alfred…even if it's just your first day here…" Meghan said quietly. Luckily, Alfred heard and understood what his sister said. He simply grinned.

"I wonder what Kumamimi's doing right now…hopefully, she isn't starving…" Meghan murmured after seeing someone near their table eating a tuna bun. "That white polar bear you got somewhere?" Alfred teased, making Meghan frown. Alfred clasped a hand on his sister's left shoulder "That bear of yours won't die just because you're not with _it_, Meggy." Alfred said and finished his burger. Meghan sighed heavily, trying to convince herself that her brother's correct—even if he's such an idiot.

"So, what kind of noble stupidity did you do in order to gain instant popularity, Alfred?" Meghan asked, her voice more modulated compared to her normal voice.

"_Me_? Doing something stupid? C'mon, sis! Don't be such a troll!" Alfred slapped Meghan's shoulder. Meghan clutched her shoulder and sighed. "Besides, I did not even plan this—at all!" Alfred added. _'Most likely…'_ Meghan commented internally. She glanced at her leather brown-strapped watch and tapped her right foot impatiently "I really wanna go home soon…"

* * *

"Oh, crap…our LCD Projector's gone bonkers…" one of the class' male students declared after failing to enhance the quality of whatever's being projected on the screen by LCD Projector. The Health teacher _tsked_ as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Turn that thing off right now…" the teacher sounded pretty much annoyed "…I guess I'll have to ask permission from Class B's Teacher-in-Charge for us to borrow their LCD Projector."

Upon hearing _Class B_, the whole class became dead silent.

"So, is there any brave soul in this class who could ask Class B's TIC if we could borrow their LCD Projector?"

Only silence answered back the teacher's challenge.

"Oh, so no one wants to volunteer, hmm?" the Health teacher smirked as she turned her back and faced the blackboard. The students exchanged fearful glances. Some even bowed their heads down, praying that they won't be the one called.

"Class Number…"

Ellerie glanced at Alice then tapped her pen on her desk, a faint yet amused smile on her lips.

"…nineteen."

Sighs of relief have been heard inside the classroom…but after a few seconds of rejoicing, the class realized that CN 19 was actually…_the one and only__ Witch of the High School Society: Alice Kirkland_.

"Uh…Ms. Julie, did you choose nineteen on purpose?" One of the students at the second row asked. She's probably scared because she might get cursed or something. The teacher faced the class with a smile in her face "Of course not. Now, are you willing to accept the challenge, Ms. Kirkland?"

Alice stood up and nodded. She no longer waited for her teacher's response and went out of the classroom immediately. She closed the door behind her and went straight to the Teachers' Office. Upon arriving there, she looked at the teachers' schedule.

It seems that Class B's TIC is currently having HR class with Class B.

Alice no longer wasted time and went to Class B.

Meanwhile, back in Class D's classroom, Alfred was wondering why everyone—or most of the class—seemed to be afraid of Class B. Since Alice was the one given the task to talk with Class B's TIC, he had no other choice but to ask Ellerie.

"Uh, _Vermil_…" before Alfred was able to poke Ellerie's shoulder with his pen, the vermilion-eyed girl already looked at him. She closed her notebook and waited for Alfred to ask whatever he was supposed to ask. "Is it just me or—"

Ellerie passed a piece of neatly folded paper to Alfred. He unfolded the paper and was left dumb struck with what the paper contained inside it. He looked at Ellerie with mixed amazement, shock and horror.

"_Is this girl psychic or somethin'?_" Alfred asked internally then read the contents of the paper:

_Correct. _

_The students in this class are afraid of Class B. Well, the other classes are also afraid of Class B. Why, you ask? It's because of the 'Bad Touch Trio'. It's a trio (obviously) composed of three lads—three lads that could actually make your life a living hell. For one thing I know, one of 'em is a frog—a perverted French frog, that is. _

_Basically, they are bullies. _

_Bullies._

Alfred folded the paper and placed it on his desk. He did not dare himself to look at Ellerie Vermilion. If the girl was trying to make him freak out, she succeeded. Now, a lot of bizarre thoughts ran inside the American's head. Thoughts such as _'this girl is from outer space…'_ and other fictional theories made Alfred distracted. Ellerie glanced at Alfred and smiled slyly.

* * *

"Excuse me, Ms. Johanna?"

Class B's TIC opened the door and blinked after seeing who the student was. She went out of the classroom but kept the door open. "Is there anything that you need, Ms. Kirkland?" the TIC asked with a refined accent. "Yes. Our Health teacher is asking for your permission to let our class borrow Class B's LCD Projector." The teacher nodded slowly and fully opened the door 'Sure, dear. Let me help you get it…" and with that, Ms. Johanna allowed Alice to enter Class B. Alice tried her best not to make any eye contact with any of the students in the class—_especially with those three_.

"Wait here, okay? It'll just take a minute or two…" Ms. Johanna said as she opened one of the classroom's locked cabinets.

Her brain could sense it…all those eyes looking at her…all those people wondering what the hell she's doing inside Class B…and it's really making her uncomfortable. She can't help but wish that the teacher would give the LCD Projector as soon as possible.

And it seems that her prayer has been heard. Ms. Johanna held the LCD Projector with its remote with both hands but she didn't give it to her. Instead, she faced the class and asked who could help Alice bring the LCD Projector to Class D. Of course, no one volunteered…

"Let me help _la belle dame_, Ms. Johanna."

'_Oh God, no…not him! Not __that__ bloody wanker!'_ Alice thought internally upon hearing _his_ voice. "N-No, Ms. Johanna! I don't need any help at all!" Alice said but it was too late. Ms. Johanna handed the LCD Projector to Francis Bonnefoy. The French boy glanced at his comrades and chuckled.

"T-thank you…, Ms. Johanna." Alice said to the teacher and left the classroom. Francis followed her quietly—at first. When he was sure that they were already out of Class B's zone…

"Don't even think about it, Frog Face." Alice warned icily but it did not scare Francis. He stopped walking and placed the LCD Projector on a safe spot on the floor. Upon sensing this, Alice stopped in her tracks. She could feel Francis getting a step closer to her as the seconds passed. She turned around and saw that Francis was right in front of her. "Leave me alone and flirt with a bucket, you twat—"

"Oh? And this is what I get for helping you, _mon cher_?" he sounded amused, not offended. He grabbed Alice by the wrist before she was even able to protest. Right now, they are in the empty boundary between Class B and Class C…and Class D seemed too far for Alice to reach in time. "Let go, you frog! Blast it! Let go!" Alice finally decided to shout, ignoring the fact that classes are still ongoing.

"I won't bite you, _amour_. Don't be scared…"

* * *

'_What's taking Alice so long? It's been five minutes already…'_ Alfred wondered. Ellerie, on the other hand, pressed her lips together and faced Alfred.

'_That girl won't stay away from trouble, huh.' _Ellerie said to herself internally. She began a short countdown inside her head…

_Five…_

_Four…_

_Three…_

_Two…_

_One…_

_-snap-_

"…_Blast it! Let go!"_

Alfred and Ellerie looked at the classroom's exit door in chorus. Ellerie clasped a hand over Alfred's shoulder and whispered _"I think you should help her out."_ The whole class didn't seem to hear the scream…either _that_ or they ignored it. Well, even Leanie didn't seem to notice. Alfred glanced at Ellerie but the girl unclasped her hand and resumed to taking down notes. Ellerie's really beginning to scare the hell out of Alfred, alright…but he couldn't deny that he recognized the person who screamed just now.

A hero should do what he must, right?

He stood up and ran out of the classroom (of course he used the exit door 'cause it's near him) and saw Alice with a blonde guy. The guy was holding Alice by the wrist and Alfred could see that Alice was desperate to kick the guy in the ass but she couldn't get the right chance to strike.

"Stop that right now, dude!" Alfred said loudly as he walked his way into the scene. The blonde guy looked at him while Alice kept her head down. The blonde guy decided to let go of Alice and turned back. He left the scene without saying anything else.

"You okay, Alice?" Alfred asked Alice but she glanced at the LCD Projector "Bring it to…the classroom…" Alice said with a shaky voice. As Alfred picked up the projector, Alice sunk on the floor, clutching her wrist.

"Did he hurt you or anything?" Alfred asked as he sat on his knees to look at Alice closely. Alice shook her head wearily "No…" she replied. She took a deep breath and stood up and walked ahead of Alfred. Alfred stood up and followed her quietly. He suddenly remembered the note that Ellerie gave him…

'_For one thing I know, one of 'em is a frog—a perverted French frog, that is.'_

"Hey, Alice…is that guy—"

"You probably took your first step to hell…" Alice stopped walking but did not face Alfred "…do you even know who that guy is…?" she added bitterly. Alice hated how things seemed to successfully make the two of them interact with each other in a way that could destroy Alfred's opportunity of being a normal student later on.

"Vermil told me that he's a perverted French frog…" Alfred said with a grin "…and he's a part of the…" Alfred's brows furrowed as he tried to remember the name of the group "…_Bad Touch Trio."_

'_Ellerie…how much information did you give him…'_ Alice asked angrily inside her head. She knew Ellerie too well—and right now, it seems that she's having a suspicion that her one and only friend in the campus have been kidnapped and replaced by a changeling (no matter how silly it sounded) . Ellerie doesn't really like explaining things to people—she knew that…but now…

"She'll have a lot of explaining to do later…" Alice murmured and continued walking. Alfred continued walking as well. The two of them entered the classroom together. As Alfred handed the LCD Projector to the teacher, Alice saw the jealousy, anger and frustration in the eyes of her female classmates—except Ellerie and Leanie.

"Oh…so that's why you went out all of a sudden…" the Health teacher said as she watched the two students return to their seats "…_lovebirds nowadays_," she teased, making all of Alfred's fangirls really angry. Ellerie rolled her eyes after catching a glance of the class representative's face red in anger. She wanted to laugh but she decided to suppress it instead.

* * *

After the thing that happened during Health class, Alice felt that 98% of her female classmates would burn her to death. With all those dark glares and annoyed whispers, she's 100% sure that all these fangirls are planning something…but she simply prayed that she's just being too paranoid.

Since it's lunch break already, Alice took the opportunity to go to the library with Ellerie Vermilion. When they have arrived (safely), Alice returned the book she was reading to the young librarian. After this, she dragged Ellerie to the female's washroom near the _Classics_ section and locked the door. Ellerie's expression was unreadable.

"So, what else did you tell Alfred, Elle?" Alice asked angrily. Ellerie crossed her arms over her chest and smiled faintly "Don't worry, Alice. I didn't tell him the truth behind the rumor—_yet_." Alice facepalmed and leaned her back against the door "You should be helping me, Elle…not the other way around!" Alice said with frustration. Ellerie looked at her reflection in the mirror in front of her and shrugged "I _am_ helping you, Alice…but it seems that fate wants it _the other way around_," Ellerie mimicked Alice's way of saying the last four words a few seconds ago "didn't you see all of this coming?" Ellerie asked as she looked at her friend.

"I _did_—"

"So, why are you trying to defy what you saw?" Ellerie asked with a monotone voice. Alice looked down and sighed heavily "Elle, I don't want his life inside this bloody campus to be miserable…" she said. Ellerie looked into Alice's green eyes and nodded "Of course you don't want that to happen…but if we can't avoid it from happening, then we might as well _go with the flow_. Let's just see how things will be instead of jumping into conclusions." Ellerie patted Alice's shoulder and remained silent afterwards.

"Do you think…" Alice tried to find the right words inside her head "…that someone told him already…? Maybe…one of those fangirls—"

"I don't think so. And if you think that he's doing all of this because of sympathy, you're wrong." Ellerie said and smiled "So, if we're done hearing each other's side, can you step out of the doorway now?" she added, the smile beginning to fade away. Alice nodded and opened the door. As she left the restroom, she felt that her friend was still there—as in the changeling thing didn't really happen…but at the same time, she felt so weak against fate…

…and for that second, she wished that she was actually a real witch so that she could make Alfred stay away from her—for his own good.

* * *

Lunch break's over and it's time for English Literature…but the thing is, the teacher suddenly became ill and had to be sent home.

"Silent activity, class. That's what Mr. Noel left for us," the class representative, Abby Santiago, said with a grin. She folded the piece of yellow post-it and placed it inside her jeans' pocket. "Well, what do you want to do, guys?"

A few exchanges of glances.

"Guys, why are you so quiet? Make some noise, at least—" Abby's gaze landed on Alice Kirkland –"oh? Uh…Alice." All eyes landed on Alice. Alice, on the other hand, responded by closing the new book she borrowed from the library during lunch break.

"I want to have a word with you," Abby pointed her hand at the exit door, which was near Alice "outside. _Now_."

Alice stood up and went outside the classroom without saying or asking anything. Ellerie glared at the Abby darkly. Abby glared back as she left the classroom. Ellerie was about to get her spare notebook to scribble stuff but the other girls of the class (except Leanie) gathered together in a corner, catching Ellerie's attention.

"_Do you think she'll succeed?"_

"_Of course! She's in the drama club, alright! I'm pretty much sure that she can handle this."_

"_Hopefully—she's the one who suggested this in the first place."_

"_Okay, I know I hate her but right now, I'm in her side. That witch should get what she deserves."_

Ellerie and Leanie exchanged glances but Leanie immediately pulled away and resumed into doing whatever she was busy with. "These bitches need to learn how to soften their voice…" Ellerie crossed her legs as she glanced at the closed exit door.

All the guys in the class didn't really give a damn about all those girls…

…except Alfred.

As the girls laughed tauntingly in chorus, Alfred finally decided to ask Ellerie what the hell's going on. "Hey, _Vermil_…what's going on here?" Ellerie looked at Alfred but didn't say anything. Her face simply showed how stoic she is at the moment. The girls laughed their hearts out again, making Ellerie glance at them.

"Can't you see? Those bitches over there are laughing like—"

Ellerie, along with the rest of the class, fell silent upon hearing Abby's shrilling scream.

* * *

**I HAVE FINALLY POSTED CHAPTER 2.**

_**Ellerie is sooooo creepy.** _Nah, not really. xD

I was supposed to post this last Friday (7/13/12) but I became ill and all that so I had to rest. I'm kinda okay now…and Chapter 3's in progress. **ReverieDream** always scolded me because I couldn't stop myself from writing during lessons… LOL

The mid-terms went well…but we'll still have tests next week so…yeah. xD

Gonna do my Health HW~ bye! xD


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.**

I'm so happy with my grades! Especially with Asian History and Algebra…as in—I was like 'when was the last time I got a very high score in Algeb?' Aaaaaaand because of the good grades, I wrote nonstop. LOL

Here's Chapter 3~!

* * *

Chapter III

Abby Santiago was cursing under her breath, terribly soaked with ice-cold water.

"_Oh my God! Damn you, witch! Go to hell! Damn you!"_ Abby stomped her right foot on the puddle of water beneath her. Alice looked at Abby from head to toe, trying to hide her shock with what happened.

"What ha—Abby?" Leanie almost stepped back after seeing Abby's state. She's wet from head to toe (but it's her head that's mainly wet) and her face was so red—thanks to anger. "Isn't it obvious, Leanie? This," she pointed her finger at Alice "this evil witch did this to me!" she furiously ran her fingers through her wet brown hair. The frustration was too much that her hair could simply fall off. Leanie looked at Alice, unable to say anything. The other members of Class D began to arrive at the _crime scene_—a.k.a. the locker area.

"I…I'll just call Ms. Peralta…" Leanie finally said as she pushed the crowd aside so that she could pass through. Ellerie took the opportunity to have a closer look of what happened. The moment she met Abby's gaze, she felt her stomach turn—nothing really looked wrong about Abby but…_Ellerie felt like she wanted to throw up for some reason_.

"So, what on earth are you up to, Abby?" Ellerie's signature iciness silenced the crowd. Ellerie looked at Abby with the same unreadable expression she always wore. "Oh? So I'm the bad guy here? Do you even know what happened here, huh? Who are you to ask _me_ what the fucking hell happened?" Abby was obviously having a mad drive. Ellerie looked at the puddle of cold water and sighed wearily afterwards.

"Can any of you explain what happened here?" Ms. Peralta's voice made the crowd move aside for her. She looked at Abby and Alice, her arms crossed over her chest.

"I…I was just asking her why she went out during Stat t-this morning…" tears began to fall down from Abby's eyes "…I was just _concerned_ since…she's my classmate and all that…" she took a few (exaggerated) breaths before continuing "…and then she started yelling at me…then when she turned her back, I heard her murmuring stuff…t-then…BOOM!" she finally cried her heart out "I was suddenly hit—"

"Oh yeah? _Prove it._" Ellerie commented after hearing Abby's story. Ms. Peralta glanced at Ellerie then she looked back at Abby. She shook her head as she facepalmed. "Abby, dear, we are in the 21st century already. All the witches in this goddamn world have been burned alive or strangled at the stake a lot of centuries ago!" Ms. Peralta said with the _for-your-information_ tone. Ellerie looked down for a second upon hearing the types of punishment that their TIC has enumerated. Some of the students laughed while others nodded in approval. Some remained silent as well. "Anyhow, Ms. Santiago and Ms. Kirkland, please follow me—"

"I don't think this issue has to reach the teachers' office, Ms. Peralta." Ellerie said icily. Alice looked at her while Abby glared at her. Ms. Peralta raised a brow "So, what can you say, _Female Sherlock_?" the teacher asked tauntingly. Ellerie took out a piece of paper from her cardigan's pocket and a black pen from the left sleeve of her cardigan. She uncapped the pen and began scribbling stuff. As she scribbled, Alice and the others simply watched.

After a minute or two, Ellerie showed a small sketch: a long rectangle that was divided into four parts (Classrooms A-D), a long, thin rectangle placed vertically beside the right side of the rectangle (Rightmost side is Class D and the first thin rectangle is the first row of lockers) there were other two thin rectangles that had a certain distance between each other (the other two lockers). Next was a very long thin rectangle in front of the main rectangle and the thin rectangles (windows). There was a small circle between the second and third rectangle (the puddle) and an arrow pointing at the very long rectangle. Across the long, thin rectangle was an illustration of a small fountain—and that's what the arrow was actually pointing. Lastly, there's a small square beside the third thin rectangle (the third locker).***

"Based on my point of view, Abby is trying to say that Alice used the water from the fountain to make her wet—with the help of _magic_. Am I correct, _ho-no-ra-ble_ class rep?" Ellerie asked slyly. Ms. Peralta nodded slowly "Hmm…so? What about it?"

"Let's say that Alice _used_ magic and all that. If that were the case, shouldn't it be that the window ledges became wet—"

"The water she used was in a line—" Abby interrupted but Ellerie glared at her darkly.

"—oh yeah? If that was the case, then why is it that it's your head that's mainly wet?" Ellerie asked with an amused smirk. Abby was left dumb struck. "The water should have splashed, you know—since Alice is mad or something like that…" Ellerie placed the piece of paper inside the pocket of her cardigan "So, your left side was supposed to be the one that's mainly wet…and one more thing—the lockers didn't get wet."

Dumb struck momentum.

"And I heard some of my _kindhearted _classmates talking about something a few moments before the incident happened." Ellerie emphasized the word _kindhearted_ with so much sarcasm that the 'classmates' she mentioned were immediately hit by guilt. "A scheme that requires our class rep's drama club skills, perhaps?"

Another dumb struck momentum.

"You don't have a solid evidence, Vermilion—"

"The same goes for you, Santiago." Ellerie snapped back. As the two exchanged dark glares, Alfred actually found something that could close this case—once and for all.

"Hey, guys. There's an empty bucket lying here on the floor." He said, lifting up the plastic bucket with one hand. "I found it near the cleaning materials' area…and it looks like there was water here just a few moments ago…" he added as he shook the plastic bucket and a few drops of water came out.

Ellerie smirked as she watched Abby's reaction—_priceless_.

"It seems that your hedgehog failed to do her job properly, Abby." Ellerie said, her arms crossed over her chest. "I expected something _harder_ than this…but you have failed me." she added as she tilted her head to her side with a smile. She snapped her fingers and said "Case. Closed."

* * *

"Why won't you tell me? C'mon, Vermil!" Alfred pouted, which made Ellerie hiss internally. "I won't tell you. Now, leave me alone!" Ellerie ignored Alfred and sat beside Alice. The three of them decided to stay at the 'crime scene' instead of going back to their classroom. Right now, Abby Santiago, along with her _comrades_, is facing detention.

"So, are you okay now?" Ellerie asked Alice with a stoic face. Alice nodded wearily "Thanks for the save a while ago—" Alice said but Ellerie simply shook her head "Well, you didn't do anything in the first place right? Heck, magic doesn't even exist!" Ellerie said as she lightly slapped Alice's shoulder. Again, Alfred noticed that _Vermil_ seemed sarcastic about the magic thing. Alice glanced at Alfred and managed a smile. '_Good thing he still wanders around—just like before_. _Thank heavens that he managed to find the bucket…'_ Alice said to herself internally. Then, she suddenly remembered that she was supposed to _stay away_ from him—not _'the other way around'_.

"Can someone tell me what's goin' on?" Alfred finally spoke—again.

_Oh no…that was…un/expected…_ Ellerie said internally as she looked at Alice. Will she tell everything _now_ or not? What will she do? Alice blinked a few times, as if doing that would help her mind register what he just asked her. Finally, Alice spoke.

"Huh?" Alice met Alfred's gaze.

"Why is everyone so mean to you? If not mean, like Abby and her comrades, why do they ignore you?" overflowing curiosity's evident in the tone of Alfred's voice. Besides the curiosity, Alice sensed _anger_.

"Oh…_that_? You finally noticed." Alice said with a dull tone.

"It's _quite obvious, _you know." Alfred snapped back.

"Well, if it was _quite_ obvious, then why don't you try to analyze what's happening?" the dull tone was still present in Alice's voice.

_So, you're trying to make him mad? _Ellerie asked as she simply watched the two of them and their…_argument_. Silence decided to roam around for a while as Alice and Alfred remained silent. Ellerie rolled her eyes but did not say anything because right now, she's just there _to watch_.

"So, now what?" Alice broke the silence between the two of them. Now, she sounded angry as well. Alfred wasn't able to answer—either that or he simply decided to give the floor to Alice.

"Fine, I'll tell you what's going on. _You are just making the worst mistake of your life—_and that is choosing _me_ to be your friend in this blasted campus!"

A few heartbeats of silence.

"I don't think so—"

"You are totally _off your trolley_, Alfred!" Alice stomped her right foot angrily. She was actually beginning to feel hopeless. Maybe Ellerie was right—maybe she should just _go with the flow_…

"Why is it a _goddamn_ mistake to make you my friend? What will happen to me anyway?" Alfred asked. Ellerie was wondering why Alfred wasn't getting mad…so, she continued watching the argument.

"Why, you ask? Easy—you'll be degraded into a _nonexistent being_. If not, you'll be a _nothing_. Do you even want that?" Alice asked with a drop of exaggeration (even if it looked or sounded so fake).

Alfred grabbed Alice's hands and looked into her peridot green eyes. Alice knew that her cheeks were already as red as tomatoes due to the extreme blushing…and she's hoping that Alfred won't notice. "Lemme tell you something, Alice. _I don't give a damn about what will happen to me just because I chose you to be my friend_. I will never _ever_ regret choosing you to be my friend." Alfred said defiantly.

'_Oh, gee…'_ Ellerie chimed internally _'…what's this?'_ she added. She couldn't hide her amusement anymore. Well—she didn't say anything out loud but she was already smiling.

"You can still change your mind—"

"_No._ I won't change my mind. From now on, you're my friend! Got that?" Alfred grinned. Alice looked down and nodded slowly, finding it hard to accept her defeat…

On the other hand, she may have been defeated by Alfred F. Jones but instead of feeling so frustrated and all that, she actually felt _happy_.

* * *

It was already departure time and it seems that the whole High School Society already know the what happened between Abby Santiago and Alice Kirkland—and how the bright and intelligent Abby got defeated by the _Witch_ and her orange-eyed friend.

"Hey, sis! Lemme introduce you to my new friend!" Alfred waved his hands to grab his sister's attention. Meghan looked at him then at Alice. "Alfred, you're late again! I've been waiting here at the building exit for _centuries_—"

"Why do you have to be such a troll today, Meggy?" Alfred teased. Meghan simply rolled her eyes. "So, who is she?" Meghan asked after a few seconds. "Meggy, meet Alice—my new friend~! And Alice, meet Meggy, my _one hell of a sister_!"

"H-Hi, Alice…" Meghan stretched her hand to Alice. Alice shook it with a smile.

"You really transform easily, you know that?" Alfred slapped Meghan's shoulder, which caused the latter to groan. "Why do you keep on slapping my shoulder?" Meghan asked, clutching her left shoulder. Alfred simply laughed it off. "I wanna go home already, Alfred! It's already 4:16 in the afternoon and Kumachinee's waiting for me already!" Meghan said impatiently.

"Oh blimey! I totally lost track of time!" Alice suddenly remembered that the two of them (Samantha and her) have to be home before the clock strikes 4:30 PM. Alfred loked at Alice "Huh? What's wrong?" he asked. Alice shook her head "N-Nothing. I have to go now, you see. I still have to fetch my little sister and we have to be home early."

"Is that so? Well, see you tomorrow, _Ally_!" and with that, Meghan and Alfred left the HS building. Alice sighed heavily as she began walking her way to the Grade 6 building. As usual, every high school student she passes by ignores her. After a few minutes (maybe around 2-4 minutes), she finally reached the Grade 6 building. She saw Samantha seated on the staircase, tapping her foot.

"Sorry I'm late, Sam." Alice surprised her sister. Samantha almost jumped but ended up laughing. "It's okay," Sam managed to say after laughing so hard. "Let's go now. We should make it home before _she_ does." Alice carried her sister's bag, grabbed her sister's arm and walked home as fast as they could.

* * *

I wanna be like Ellerie—she's an awesome _Female Sherlock_. LOL

Well, don't you find it strange? How Ellerie managed to solve the _mystery_? So yeah, you can call her creepy if you want to.

***I actually had a hard time describing the sketch…and I even had to ask help from some of my _fwends_. One of 'em said that I should just post the picture somewhere…so allow me to give you the whereabouts of Ellerie Vermilion's sketch: Just check my profile out...since it seems that I can't paste it here =))

I'm pretty much thankful that classes got suspended because of the rain. Thanks to that, I finished Chapter 3 early! Gonna start Chapter 4 in a while…

Oh...when someone says that you are _off your __trolley_, it simply means that you have gone bonkers~

Here's one thing: I hate my English score. =.=

That's all for now~ OH. Please leave a review if you can! :3


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.**

I've been drawing lately and I've been trying to continue the HetaOni FanFic that I left before the midterms began. My 'boss' has been waiting for it for like…2-3 weeks already? OH NO. xD

Chapter 4? Here you go~!

* * *

Chapter IV

Time check: 4:33 PM.

Alice and Samantha were praying that they managed to arrive home first. Well, they _always_ do but since three minutes have already passed from their time limit, they had _this_ bad feeling that _she_ managed to arrive home first.

Alice gathered up all the courage inside her and opened the main door.

No one seemed to be home…but they can't be confident—yet. It's just the hallway that's empty (that's what they can see at the moment). Samantha held her sister's hand tightly "Do you think…_she_'s still getting herself drunk?" Samantha asked in a whisper. Alice simply shrugged. '_She's probably in her room, halfway from being sloshed…'_ Alice thought as they walked as quietly as possible. They walked upstairs as fast and as quiet as possible. When they have reached the second floor, they heard one of the doors open slowly. The first thing that they smelled: _liquor_.

'_Knew it. She went home a little bit earlier than usual…'_Alice thought as she faced Sam and told her to go to her own room before _she_ catches the two of them. Samantha no longer asked anything or protested (since they have been doing this for a very long time already). When Alice heard the door of Samantha's room lock, she was already relieved—

"Oh? You're home late, dear."

Alice didn't say a word or two as she met her _**step**_mother's cold gaze. Those dark green eyes always looked at Alice with so much hatred—and disgust. It took the two of them a few minutes of exchanging glares at each other before Cordelia spoke up "So, I think you already know what you are supposed to do today, right?" she managed to ask straightly despite the amount of liquor she has drunk. Alice sensed that her stepmother's in a very good mood. '_I think she got another great deal of money from Dad. Great.'_ Alice said to herself in a very dull voice. If Cordelia hated her so much because of her own reasons, Alice hated Cordelia (and her children) because of her own reasons as well…and one of those reasons is the (obvious) fact that Cordelia's taking advantage of Alice's father.

"I'm expecting dinner to be prepared by 6 PM. _Sharp_. Don't you dare disturb me, understand? Now, get lost." Cordelia _shooed _Alice away and returned to her own room. She even locked it so that she could fully enjoy the privacy. Alice couldn't stop herself from asking (over and over again) why her dad married a _slut_. Okay, one can say that Cordelia's beautiful—thanks to her wavy mocha brown hair that's always in a high bun, her emerald green eyes, her naturally pink lips and her fair skin—but she's only beautiful _outside_ or physically…

…but when you look at the _inside_, it totally reeks.

Alice went to her room first to drop off her bag. As she went downstairs, she tried to think of what to cook for dinner. Since Cordelia's only daughter can't even crack an egg open properly and Cordelia herself can't use a kitchen knife without getting herself cut (sometimes, Alice wondered whether she was doing it on purpose or not), she's the one who was tasked to cook. For the first two years of being in the family, Cordelia and her children had to suffer by eating whatever Alice served _every day_. Alice was just…around eight years old during that time. There were times that she was cooking terribly on purpose, probably to make Cordelia regret assigning her to cook. As the years passed, her cooking skills improved really well. So, whenever she cooks terribly, Cordelia immediately says that she did that on purpose—which is true, of course.

"Is there even something inside this house that can be cooked?" Alice asked as she entered the kitchen and found the cupboards empty. _'Nice. Now, I have to buy ingredients at the nearest grocery store there is. Otherwise, I might end up making Cordelia have a mad drive until 2 in the morning.'_ Alice cussed internally after telling herself what to do. She checked the time and only managed to cuss—again.

It's already 4:45 PM.

"Ugh! Blast it!" Alice went upstairs as fast as she could to get her purse.

* * *

"I'm already starving to death, Maggie." Kumaddie said with a low voice as Meghan and Alfred entered the house. Meghan carried the polar bear and nuzzled its nose "Hi there. I'll get you some food, okay?" Meghan told to the polar bear with a faint smile. The latter simply rolled its eyes and groaned.

"Do we still have some fish in the fridge, Alfred?" it seemed stupid to ask Alfred this certain question (since he doesn't even eat fish) but she did not care anymore. "Your stupid polar bear finished up the last one last night!" Alfred shouted as he went upstairs. Kumamitchie glared at Alfred and murmured something like _shut your fat ass, jerk_.

"Oh great. Then it means I'll have to buy you some fish, hmm? Are you willing to wait?" Meghan asked. Kuma nodded wearily "Sure, sure. Just make it quick, will you? Go, now!" and with that, Meghan left the house to buy fish for Kumamimi.

* * *

Time check: 5:01 PM

'_It's really hard to think of something good to cook without spending so much money on the ingredients…'_

"With all the money that Cordelia have right now, she _could_ have a feast prepared for tonight…" Alice mumbled as she passed by the 'vegetables' section of the supermarket. She still had no idea on what to cook for tonight.

"She should really learn how to coo—" Alice suddenly bumped someone, cutting her chain of thoughts. When she was about to apologize to the person she bumped, she met the girl's purple eyes and recognized her immediately.

"M-Meghan? I-I'm sorry!" Alice stammered but Meghan clasped her hand on the latter's shoulder "Alice, right?" her soft voice was still audible for Alice to hear despite the noise in the grocery store due to people doing a quick shopping spree for their dinner. Alice noticed that Meghan's basket was full of…_fish, fish and fish_. Meghan glanced at her basket and laughed nervously "O-Oh? _These_? It's for my pet, you see…" Meghan defended. Alice nodded slowly, half-convinced with Meghan's explanation. Meghan slowly tilted her head and blinked as she looked at Alice's empty basket.

"Having trouble, I suppose?" Meghan asked. Alice slightly blushed in embarrassment. Meghan simply smiled and asked "Why don't you just buy something…that can be prepared in a short amount of time?" Alice sighed wearily "My…_'mother'_ would not be pleased with…_that_." Alice quoted the word _mother_ with a hint of sarcasm.

"So…how much time do you have left to make the type of dinner that would satisfy your…um…_'mother'_?" she quoted the word _mother_ with slight awkwardness. Just when Alice was about to glance at her watch, she realized that _she was not wearing one_.

"5:11 PM. _He's_ probably on the phone right now, ordering pizza…" Alice guessed that Meghan was talking about Alfred. Then, Alice facepalmed as she felt more pressured with what to cook. "Uh…if your…_'mother'_ wants to eat something…hmm…something _above_ average," Meghan paused for a while as if trying to search for the right words to say "_just make something simple but looks fancy and appetizing._"

'_Of course! Since Cordelia's sloshed right now, she __**might**__ not be able to leave her sanctuary—which means that she might end up missing dinner (for good)!' _Alice thought and shook Meghan's smooth white hands "Thank you! Thank you very much, Meghan!" Meghan nodded slowly "D-Did I…really help you _that_ much, Alice?" Meghan asked hesitantly. Alice let go of Meghan's hands and nodded "Yes, you did."

* * *

Time check: 5:33 PM

"Alice…are we going to eat already?" Samantha asked as she entered the kitchen. She could smell the food being cooked, making her hungrier. Alice glanced at her little sister and a small smile slowly curved her lips "Almost done. Hey," Alice stopped chopping the lettuce and met her sister's gaze "help me with this—"

"Sure! I'd love to!" Samantha jumped with excitement as she went closer to her sister. "Am I going to ch—"Alice placed the kitchen knife beside the chopping board and faced her little sister "No. You can't chop _yet_." Samantha looked down, making Alice a little guilty. "I don't think they would love to see chopped fingers in their food later, right?" Alice asked, trying to sound normal instead of being sarcastic.

"So, what am I supposed to do, then?" Samantha asked without looking at her sister. "You'll get the _best_ part of the task…" Alice gently lifted up her sister's chin "you'll be the one to make tonight's food look really great."

"Really? I'll be the one to…like…_design_ the food or something like that?" Samantha sounded happy again, making the guilt leave Alice. "Exactly. Now," Alice placed small bowls of chopped vegetables on the table. Samantha helped her prepare the plates and all the other eating utensils. Next, Alice turned off the stove and—

"Don't tell me that it's—"

"Nothing's wrong with _this_, right? Besides, I think they should learn to eat something else…" Alice protested as she placed the finished dish on the table so that Sam could start adding the vegetables for design.

"Shrimp omelet…?" Samantha slowly tilted her head as she looked at the dish. She has to decorate four shrimp omelets. "Well, what else can I buy? Our father has not been giving me money to buy ingredients for this house so I used my savings—"

"You did no use all of it—"

"This _was_ an emergency, okay? Besides, would you want Cordelia to have another mad drive?" Alice snapped.

"Oh—that one hell of a mad drive that lasted for like…eight hours? Of course not!" Samantha shook her head as she remembered how their stepmother kept on sobbing and shouting hilarious and disturbing things. Plus, she kept on barking orders.

"Now that you understand the situation, can you start decorating now?" Alice asked as she placed the bowl of chopped lettuce on the table. Samantha nodded and began decorating.

* * *

Time check: 6:01 PM

"We've reached our deadline. Well, we actually finished two minutes ago but let's take this opportunity to rest…" Samantha wiped her forehead with the back of her right hand. She was proud of her decorating skills, alright. Now, the four shrimp omelets look like big green flowers.

"So, let us pray for all the shrimps that had to die to be _their_ food for tonight…" Alice said sarcastically as she looked at the dinner table. Shrimp omelet plus shrimp fried rice? Oh well…how many shrimps had to die for them?

"Do you think they'll eat seafood?" Samantha asked.

"It's either they eat or they starve themselves to death." Alice said, her arms crossed over her chest. Finally, they heard the doors from upstairs open. Alice closed the kitchen doors. Samantha stood up from her seat and hid behind Alice.

"The food's already prepared, hmm?" Alice tried not to frown as she heard Cordelia's voice from the living room. The Kirkland sisters were able to exchange glances before their stepmother entered the dining room. The two were hoping that Cordelia won't bother entering the kitchen. After a few seconds, they heard their other non-biological siblings enter the dining room as well.

"I think we can eat our dinner in peace now, Sam…" Alice patted her sister's head as she glanced at the two omelets left on the small wooden table near the stove. The two stoves weren't decorated since they were the only ones who'll eat it in the first place. Sam took her plate of omelet first.

"Gee, I can get used to this…" Sam muttered with sarcasm.

"Sam, just eat." Alice said wearily as she took her own plate. The two sat on the floor in chorus and began eating.

"So you knew that father won't go home again?" Samantha asked after chewing her first bite of shrimp omelet. "He'll just be home late…and he always eats outside. It's really rare to see him home early nowadays…" Samantha added. Alice remained silent. "The 'sibling rationing' in this house is so unfair. It's 2:3…Plus, two of them are guys…" Samantha didn't seem to make any sense, changing the topic easily. Alice looked at her sister "Well, what can we do? _He_ has not been home for…ten years, I guess…" Alice placed her plate beside her and embraced her knees. "Maybe if he was here, he wouldn't let this happen to us…" Samantha whispered. Alice closed her eyes for a few seconds "Either that or he'll simply let them be arseholes." She slowly opened her eyes as she reflected on what her sister said. _Would he even care if he saw what their current state is? Knowing him, he'll just let his overflowing sarcasm and natural criticism to do the job._

"How old was I when he…_disappeared_?" Samantha asked.

"I think you were only two years old." Alice said as she picked up her plate and continued eating. She really didn't feel comfortable whenever _he's _the one being talked about. The pain was still there, of course. Plus, the fact that their father seemed to have moved on already only made it worse.

"Do you think that he's already dead—"

"_No_. My twin can't die that easily. _He can't be dead_." Alice said icily, trying to deny that even she's thinking about her brother's current state. She couldn't help but ask herself whether _he_'s still alive or otherwise.

"He _promised_…"

* * *

"Any news from him, Lukas?"

As orange met dull blue, silence decided to pass by for a few seconds.

"No. He has been silent for the past five years."

The troll beside the man named Lukas yawned at the corner of the room. Again, silence decided to pass by.

"But, he's still…_there_, right?"

"The fairies said that he was still there. Nothing unusual yet, I suppose."

"T-That's enough for me."

"Can you still keep it up—"

"Of course, I can!" she said but Lukas wasn't convinced—at all.

"You're really serious about this, huh." the man said in an almost inaudible voice.

"A promise is a promise. An _oath_, to be exact."

* * *

Time check: 9:46 PM

"Alice, dear…come here." Cordelia shouted from her room. Alice left her current chore and went upstairs. Alice knocked on the door first. "Go in," Cordelia said. Alice entered the room and closed the door behind her. The smell of rum filled the air inside Cordelia's room. "Do you need anything?" Alice asked stoically. Cordelia placed the glass or rum on the round table in front of her. Alice had a feeling that Cordelia will have a mad drive anytime soon—since '_Late Night Madness'_ has started 46 minutes ago.

"Alice, can't you just vanish like how your brother did?" Cordelia finally spoke.

"Excuse me." Alice almost asked in monotone. _Here comes the mad drive_…she thought to herself internally.

"Just get out of our life already. You and your little sister."

"Sorry but we can't do that." Alice said. With that, she met the cold gaze of her stepmother. "And may I ask why you can't do that?" she asked. "It's simply because Samantha and I are the _legal_ ones inside this house. You and your children were the ones who inserted your arses here." Alice answered tauntingly.

A few heartbeats of silence.

"Since when did you learn to answer back like that, you little bitch?" Cordelia stood up from her bed and faced Alice. "Since when did you even care, _mother_?" Alice emphasized the word _mother_. The two exchanged death glares, making the whole atmosphere change.

Before Cordelia was able to throw the glass of rum to Alice, someone knocked on the door. Alice immediately moved aside after opening the door for the person who knocked.

"Oh dear. You're home early, Henry." Cordelia greeted the tall blonde man with the same (fake) smile she always wears whenever her husband's around. Alice remained stoic; hoping that her father did not hear whatever she said…or better, he did not hear anything.

"I did not have that much work today." the man answered wearily. He glanced at Alice then nodded slowly "I was just checking on you two. Having a short bonding, I suppose?" he asks with a weary smile.

"Yes, dear. Your daughter," Cordelia wrinkled her nose "seems to be bashful. _Too_ bashful." Alice no longer said anything in order to prevent screwing things up for tonight. _Let the arseholes be arseholes._

"You can't expect my daughter to drink rum with you—_yet_." Henry emphasized the word _yet_ with a grin. Cordelia chuckled as she sat on her bed, nodding "You're right, dear. Now, why don't you just rest?" Cordelia picked up her glass of rum and drank. Henry nodded as he bade farewell and closed the door. After the _thud_, Cordelia smirked.

"You seem to be lucky, little bitch. Get the fuck out of my room now before I end up throwing knives at you." Cordelia said with a taunting smile. Alice rolled her eyes and muttered "Coward…" as she left the room and closed the door behind her.

* * *

A list of…character identities (?) :

**Lukas= Norway**

**Cordelia and Henry= OCs…** (Cordelia's such a…grr…)

_**Sorry for the late update. **_I had to be out the whole day because we did a project…somewhere over the rainbow. Got home really, really late. 11 PM, to be exact.

*****Please pray for my _Aneue_…she's being killed by her parents (in social aspects)…and I—we—feel guilty about it. We're hoping that she's just okay…the same goes for my two other friends…||fingers crossed||*****

_#OnceARetardAlwaysARetard_

Please leave a review if you can…I really appreciate it—no matter if it's already…nasty, I guess? Well, a review _is_ a review, right?


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia…**but in my Wonderland (a.k.a. delusions), Iggy's mine~! **shot**

It's almost our Quarterly Exams. It's so hard to believe…I mean…we just had our midterms (we call it MQTs or Mid-Quarter Tests in our place) two weeks ago…and then *poof*…the QTs are here. Seriously? I think our teachers _really_ love us—oh wait. It's raining sarcasm here. Lemme get my umbrella first.

Anyhow, here's Chapter 5~

* * *

Chapter V

"_He's missing."_

_Alice's eyes widened as she stared at her brother's empty bed. The bed seemed untouched. As mixed emotions wrapped her chest, she stumbled and fell on her bed. She closed her peridot green eyes as she clutched her head with both hands._

"_Why is this happening…" she asked herself over and over again. The pixie with the pale blonde hair sat on her shoulder, trying to comfort her._

"_He left me alone in this place called hell…!" Alice shouted with so much frustration. After the shout, a roll of thunder resounded. It seems that even heaven itself was sympathizing with her. The pixie shook her head wearily and left Alice._

"_Why did he—"_

* * *

Alice woke up as she realized that she was dreaming. She felt tears on her cheeks. As she wiped the tears with the back of her right hand, she cussed internally. She really hated it when _that_ dream decides to visit her.

It was 2:33 AM and Alice could no longer sleep—thanks to the nasty nightmare. She ran her fingers through her blonde hair as she looked at the window. It was raining—again. She sighed as she stood up and covered the window with curtains.

'_That nightmare…'_ Alice thought internally as she sat on her bed, her gaze focused on the floor. She didn't want to remember it anymore but it seems that those memories won't stop haunting her—especially _now_.

She tapped her right foot slowly as she tried to think of ways to go back to sleep. She's still weary from all the chores that she did a few hours ago and her body's really begging for a rest—a normal rest, that is.

After several minutes, she failed to think of a way, making her frustrated. She took her phone from the small cabinet beside her bed and decided to text the one and only person she could text at the moment.

* * *

As her phone vibrated, Ellerie Vermilion glanced at it and blinked upon seeing the message's sender.

"It seems that she has been haunted by _that_ nightmare again…" Ellerie mumbled as she closed the book she was reading and read the text.

_Elle, I know you're still wide awake. Please help me sleep._

Ellerie sighed and looked around. She frowned as she began texting…

_Well, Alice…how am I supposed to help you sleep? Don't tell me I have to count sheep for you._

After she pressed the 'send' button', she put her phone down and quickly wiped her right hand on her plain white sleeping gown. Before she was able to resume with what she was reading, her phone vibrated again. She picked up her phone again and opened the message…

_Of course not! I'm not /that/ childish, am I? _

Ellerie smiled faintly as she texted her reply…

_Maybe you could ask some of your faery friends to help you out. I can't help you at the moment...unless you consider 'me' being there spiritually as a form of help._

She pressed the 'send' button and waited for a reply instead of placing it back on the table in front of her. After a few minutes, her phone vibrated. She opened the message and chuckled…

_It would be rude to disturb them, Elle. Now, are you going to help me or not?_

Ellerie took a deep breath and texted her reply…

_You know, you could just lie down, close your eyes and let yourself drift back to sleep. Don't be afraid that you'll be haunted by that dream again (since it just did a few moments ago)…why don't you think of…something or someone that makes you happy?_

After pressing the 'send' button, she turned off her phone and continued reading the book she was reading.

* * *

_You know, you could just lie down, close your eyes and let yourself drift back to sleep. Don't be afraid that you'll be haunted by that dream again (since it just did a few moments ago)…why don't you think of…something or someone that makes you happy?_

Alice internally repeated the "why don't you think of something or someone that makes you happy" part for approximately five times. After the fifth repeat, she placed the phone on the mini cabinet and faced the plain white ceiling.

_Something or someone that makes me happy…_

When she closed her eyes, the first thing—person that entered her mind was the guy named _Alfred F. Jones_. She tried to open her eyes but it seems that her body's no longer listening to her brain. As images of Alfred flashed in her head, she felt the urge to scream (like a fangirl) internally but remained silent and calm instead.

_His smile…_

_His attitude…_

_His determination…_

_Everything about him…_

* * *

"So, did it work?" Ellerie asked curiously as she approached Alice at the locker area. Alice glanced at her and shook her head "Hell no…" she muttered as she slammed her locker shut, trying to sound convincing. Ellerie shook her head slowly as a smirk curved her lips "I doubt that."

"Believe me, Ellerie Vermilion. Your suggestion made me…"

"Made you what?" Ellerie asked as she leaned her shoulder against the lockers.

"It made me…b-basically, it had no effect on me." Alice said as she passed by Ellerie. The latter did not follow Alice back to the classroom. Instead, she yawned and smiled "She's lying."

Meanwhile, Alice entered the classroom and placed her History book and Statistics book on her desk. She glanced at Alfred's chair and then scolded herself internally. Leanie Avirre entered the classroom and greeted Alice with a warm smile. The latter greeted the former with a faint smile.

It was just 6:33 in the morning but the weather was so gloomy. It would rain anytime soon, obviously. Alice looked at the window and a cold breeze blew past her. The breeze sent chills running down her spine but she tried not to shiver.

* * *

"Since Mr. Noel's still sick, I'll be your substitute for English today," Sir Pun-squared said with a grin as he entered the classroom. '_A Statistics teacher will be our English Literature teacher today?! Holy crap…'_ Leanie facepalmed internally.

"_And_ since he left you in sentence patterns, this will be a piece of cake~" he chimed as he placed his maroon clear folder on the teachers' desk. It was just the first period—that's why Class D was still dead silent. Well, just like how Sir Pun-squared says, Class D seems to become _bashful_ during his class.

"It's weird to see Ms. Santiago absent. Strange…" he shook his head slowly as he caught a glance of the attendance on the rightmost side of the blackboard. _"Absent? Suspended's the right term, Pun-squared…"_ Ellerie said internally as she took out her English notebook from her bag.

"Sooooo, who can give me a sentence with the pattern _S-TV-DO-OC_?" he asked. "About what, Sir?" one of the students asked. Sir Pun-squared flashed a grin and said "A sentence about your _handsome_ substitute English Lit teacher~!"

**SFX: Croo…Croo…**

"_What the fucking hell?! Handsome…?! You've got to be kidding me."_ Alice thought as she clenched her pen in her fist tightly. Another five seconds passed and the English Sub teacher facepalmed "Gee, class… stop being so damn bashful."

Some students of the class laughed. Hearing their Stat teacher being _that_ hilarious was an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Well, some of the students immediately thought that the Stat teacher had an _inspiration_.

"I'll begin the _S-TV-DO_, okay? One of you add the _OC_, got that?"

"Yes, sir!" most of the class (almost all the girls) said cheerfully.

"Okay, uh…_the handsome English sub teacher_—"

A few heartbeats of silence.

"Dammit, I'll call someone randomly." he said as he walked around the classroom, loking for his…_victim_.

'_Just because it's English Lit, it doesn't mean that you can swear as much as you want, you arse.'_ Alice hissed internally as she closed her notebook shut. Well, thanks to the loud _bam_, she caught the attention of Mr. Pun-squared…

"Any problems, Ms. Kirkland?" he asked with his eyes squinted.

"No problem at all, Sir." she replied stoically.

"If that's the case, would you mind completing the sentence for the class?" he sounded like he was challenging Alice. Then it suddenly hit the latter—the thing that happened yesterday during Statistics. Maybe the teacher was seeking for revenge now.

"Sure, Sir…" she stood up and tried to think of a way to accomplish the challenge that the _handsome_ teacher just gave her. "The English sub teacher—"

"The _handsome _English sub teacher, Ms. Kirkland. Say that again, please."

Alice cleared her throat "The _handsome_ English sub teacher taught his students literature."

"Say that louder, please. You sounded quite nervous."

'_You blasted frog! Go to hell!'_ Alice glared at the teacher and repeated the sentence with a more audible voice "The _super handsome_ English sub teacher taught his students literature. Happy?" she asked with frustration. The self-proclaimed handsome English sub teacher smiled (and even winked) "Thank you for the wonderful answer, Ms. Kirkland. Please take your seat now."

"You arsehole…" Alice muttered as she took her seat. She didn't notice that Alfred was smiling at her.

* * *

"Elle, I'm just going to return a book at the library. You don't have to come with me anymore." Alice clasped a hand over Ellerie's shoulder. Ellerie sighed as she patted the hand "Okay, okay…I'll just be in the classroom, okay?" Alice nodded and unclasped her hand. As she turned around and left, Ellerie bit her lower lip. After a few seconds, she dumped her English notebook inside her locker and returned inside the classroom.

"Yo, Vermil~!"

Ellerie stopped in her tracks upon hearing her seatmate's voice. "Ugh. What?" she asked without looking at him. "Do you know where Alice went?" he asked. Ellerie sat on her seat first before answering Alfred's question "She went somewhere…over the rainbow."

Alfred scowled.

"_That_ won't affect me, you know." Ellerie said with a smirk.

"C'mon, Vermil! Just tell me where she is!" Alfred insisted.

"Uh…let's see…" Ellerie crossed her ankles and placed her hands on her lap "…let's have a deal, shall we?"

"Huh?" Alfred's brows furrowed.

"A deal. Do you need a freakin' dictionary to know what a deal means?" Ellerie asked with several drops of sarcasm evident in the tone of her voice.

"What kind of deal?" Alfred asked. He really did not like the idea but since he really wants to see Alice, he'll have to go through _this_.

* * *

"Are you sure that you won't borrow a book for today, dear?" the young librarian asked after Alice surrendered the book that she borrowed. "I have to study for the upcoming exams, Ms. Semilla." Alice answered and followed it with a smile. The young librarian nodded, obviously convinced. "So, do you want to make any reservations instead?" the librarian asked. "I would love to—"

"Ally!"

Almost everyone in the library looked at Alfred F. Jones with the _what-the-hell-is-your-problem_ look in their faces. Ms. Semilla giggled as she watched Alice blush. Alfred approached Alice and gave her a big bear hug. "W-w-w-what the—" Alice stammered, unable to push Alfred away from her. Ms. Semilla cleared her throat, successfully getting Alfred's attention (but he didn't let go of Alice). "I don't want to sound like an old hag but I would like to remind you that you are in the library."Ms. Semilla said with her arms crossed over her chest "And…I would suggest that you let go of Alice right now…otherwise, _she might end up dying due to suffocation_." she added with overflowing sarcasm. Alfred finally let Alice go, allowing the latter to breath normally.

"Ally, your cheeks are so red. You okay?" Alfred asked, lifting Alice's chin up slowly. Probably because of natural human instincts, Alice responded by slapping Alfred's hand away then she covered her face "I'm okay…" she muttered. Alfred blinked.

"Guys, if you are planning to have a conversation, do it outside." Ms. Semilla said with dead seriousness. Alice walked out of the library as fast as she could while Alfred followed her, ignoring the angry stares of the students in the library.

When the two of them have completely exited the library, Alice immediately apologized for what she did to Alfred a few moments ago. Alfred simply brushed it off (he didn't seem offended at all).

"So, how did you find me?" Alice asked after removing her hands from her face. She was no longer _that_ red due to the blushing. "Ahahahaha~! I followed you." he chimed. Alice rolled her eyes then sighed. "I think we should go back to our classroom now since it's almost bell time—"

"_Not so fast, losers!"_

Alice's eyes widened after hearing the voice. She turned around and felt like someone punched her stomach. Alfred also turned around to see who the person was—the persons were, actually.

"Don't tell me that they are in a nark right now…" Alice muttered under her breath as the albino guy stepped forward with a smirk curving his lips. "Who is he?" Alfred elbowed Alice and asked her the question as softly as he could. "He's Gilbert Beilschmidt…and he's the leader of the Bad Touch Trio…" Alice answered.

Basically, the Bad Touch Trio doesn't give a damn about the _rumor_. The students of the High School Society are too afraid to go against them so they just let the group do whatever they want.

Then, Alfred remembered the short note that Ellerie Vermilion handed to him…

_Basically, they are bullies._

And since it was almost bell time, the hallway was beginning to become deserted…and Alice definitely knew that it wasn't a pleasant idea to be cornered by the Bad Touch Trio in a time like this.

* * *

**I'll stop here first~!**

*********whatever happened during the English Lit class in this chapter happened in our class a few days ago...but the thing is that, it was our real English teacher~ he has overflowing self-confidence ;)

So, I'm sorry to say this but I won't be updating for two **or** three bloody weeks. Projects after projects **plus** Quarterly Exams **plus** my mom's five-day vacation here the week after the next **plus** preparations for _Buwan ng Wika Culminating Activity_ (performance practices and…preparing a European gown~!) = lack of time. I'm really sorry~ please don't slaughter me!

I'll try to update ASAP when I find the time to do so…and I think it will be…_okay I won't say a specific date_.

I'm really sorry~!

-gets Asian History book and opens Western Colonization-

^Okay, we're not yet in _that_ part but…it's my way to prepare myself for studying Asian History (hell yeah because England's there =)) )

Okay, now I'm really going to study—for the sake of getting a chance to visit Nihooooooooooon during summer vacation! :3

Bye~!


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.**

Hi everyone. I know I told you that I won't update but…classes have been suspended here in our place because of nonstop rain…and 90% of my country's capital is submerged in floodwater…#PrayForThePhilippines

*sighs heavily* Here's the product of my graveyard shift: Chapter 6~

* * *

Chapter VI

'_Geez. Where is that Alfred right now? He always goes MIA when he's totally needed!'_

_As Meghan entered Class D to look for her brother, she noticed the one and only student sitting on the very last row of chairs in the classroom. Next to the student's seat was a desk—and Alfred's stuff were dumped there._

_Meghan approached the student, hoping that she can tell her where she can find her brother._

"_Um…excuse me?" she said with an almost inaudible voice. The student closed the book she was reading and looked at her. The student simply looked at her, probably waiting for her to continue. "Uh…do you know w-where Alfred went?" she asked. The student nodded and smiled gently "He went to the library."_

'_The library…?! Now __**that**__ is something new…' Meghan thought._

"_T-Thanks!" Meghan said and ran her way to the HS library._

* * *

It was almost bell time and the hallway was beginning to be deserted…

"Alfred…after three,_ run_." Alice said sternly but in a not-so-audible voice (for the Bad Touch Trio to hear). Alfred's brows furrowed "What the hell? No way! A hero does not run away from the enemy!" Alfred answered back, causing Alice to facepalm—epically.

"_Damn it, you idiot. Just listen to me!"_ Alice shot a glare at Alfred but it did not affect the latter at all. Gilbert was just a few steps away from them…and Alice wanted to push Alfred away. She has been bullied by the BTT since seventh grade so she was already used to it…but the fact that Alfred's with her this time was a totally different story.

_Five…_

_Four…_

"Damn it…"

_Three…_

_Two…_

_O—_

"_A-Alfred?!"_

As the bell rang, everyone in the corridor (BTT, Alice and Alfred) was looking at Meghan Williams.

"M-Meggy?!" Alfred looked at Meggy with so much surprise (and a few drops of disbelief) that Meghan avoided her brother's gaze and tried to analyze what was _supposed_ to happen if she didn't interfere.

Meghan did not notice that Gilbert was looking at her with an unexplainable smirk.

"Who is she, lover boy?" Gilbert asked (Alfred in particular).

"Ah—her? She's my sister." Alfred said with unusual seriousness.

When Meghan's eyes met Gilbert's, it felt …_so damn awkward_.

"Hey, dude…stop _staring_ at my sister." Alfred threatened. Gilbert snickered and turned his back "Be thankful that your sister saved your ass for today, lover boy." and with that, the Bad Touch Trio left the three of them alone.

Meghan blinked.

"W-what was that…all about?" Meghan asked.

"Meggy, what are you doing here? You totally ruined the action!" Alfred pouted. Alice shook her head wearily "Shut up…"

As thunder rolled down from the heavens, Alice squealed. Alfred looked at her and blinked. Alice immediately covered her face with both hands "D-d-don't look at me, you idiot!"

"A-Alfred…we'll be late for our class;" Meghan said with a modulated voice as the rain began to fall down from the heavens "I'll just talk to you later, okay? S-See you…" Meghan smiled gently and left the two alone.

* * *

The heavy rain kept on pouring, causing the Administrative Team of the school to suspend the afternoon classes.

* * *

It was already 12:23 PM and the rain became a thousand times worse. Some brave souls dared themselves to walk into the merciless rain in order to go home early while most have decided to stay.

Alice was beginning to worry about Samantha.

"I'm going now, Alice. See you around…" Ellerie said and followed it with a faint, weary smile. She opened her black umbrella and left the HS building. Ellerie did not seem okay…she looked so tired despite the unproductiveness visiting their last three subjects before classes got freakin' suspended.

"The rain's getting worse…" Alice said as she looked outside and touched the ice-cold glass window. She sighed heavily and looked down.

"_Just when we were about to visit you…"_ she mumbled.

"Hey, Ally!"

Alice looked back and saw Alfred with her sister, Meghan. Meghan was holding a white umbrella while Alfred was holding a blue one. Meghan looked at Alice for a few seconds then whispered something in Alfred's ear. The latter grinned.

"Hey, Ally. I won't let you get stranded in this crappy building." Alfred grabbed Alice's arm, opened the umbrella and ran right into the rain with her (of course, the umbrella was doing its purpose…)

"H-Hey! Stop that, you bloody idiot!" Alice shouted as she felt her legs getting wet because of the rain. Alfred laughed it off "C'mon Ally! You're gonna make the rain worse with that grumpy face!" Alfred teased as they stopped running in the rain. Alice blushed. The rain poured harder and they were just standing in the middle of the rain. Alfred was still holding the umbrella (even if he wanted to let it go)…and he was looking into Alice's vivid green eyes.

And thanks to flash of lightning and another roll of loud thunder, Alice yelped. Alfred smiled and gave her an embrace. The dark blue umbrella fell on the ground, causing a splash of rainwater.

"A-Alfred…" Alice felt so powerless. Being locked in Alfred's arms…she never expected this day to happen…_ever again_. Time seemed to stop despite the ongoing rain. It's like heaven itself found the scene…_lovely_. So, what did heaven do? She showered her tears harder—as in _harder_ than _harder_…

"Ally, you okay?" Alfred asked.

Alice managed to give a small nod.

Alfred smiled as well.

He finally released Alice from his embrace and picked up the blue umbrella. "Damn…I accidentally let go of the umbrella," Alfred said with dismay. Alice shook her head and _tsk_ed. "Since we're already _wet_, let's just walk straight into the rain." Alfred concluded with so much optimism that the rain seemed a little offended. So, what did the rain do? _Nothing_, actually. It just continued to pour itself down.

* * *

As Meghan watched the two _lovebirds_ in the middle of the rain, she suddenly remembered the scarlet red eyes of _that_ guy she encountered during recess. She shook her head and clutched her head with her right hand, chuckling nervously.

"_N-no way…sheesh."_ she said, imagining herself blushing.

* * *

When the three of them have reached the Grade 6 building, no one was there.

Alice's vivid green eyes widened.

"N-nobody's here anymore…" Meghan said.

"No…" Alice felt like her intestines were about to fall on the ground. '_She won't leave the school alone, would she?'_ Alice thought, trying to keep calm. She leaned her back against the nearest pillar and fell into her knees. Alfred caught her before she completely fell. "Ally, calm down. Your sister's still here, I'm sure 'bout that." Alfred tried to sound convincing but Alice was too…_worried_.

"What is your sister's section, Alice?" Meghan asked, closing her white umbrella.

"C-Class…C."

"I'll check it out. Alfred, stay with her." Meghan said and went to Class C.

"Sam…where are you…?" Alice said, trying to stop the urge to cry. She tried to sound frustrated instead of showing how scared she was. Alfred sat on his knees and clasped a hand over Alice's shoulder "We'll find her, got that? Don't worry."

Meghan returned after a few minutes, holding a piece of paper in her hand. She handed the piece of paper to Alice. Meghan noticed that Alice's pale hands were shaking. Alice unfolded the piece of paper…

'_Alice. Samantha was crying when I saw her here. She said that you already left. If you want to find us, we're just in the cemetery.'_

Alice no longer had to guess who left the bloody note for her. She stood up, took a deep sigh and glanced at Alfred.

"I have to go now. My sister's waiting for me."

* * *

**Sorry for the short chapter. I'm too worried…**

Sorry for the crappy PruCan moment—I know I failed.

Sorry for the cheesy chapter…

Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.

While I was writing (typing) this chapter, the rain was pouring sooooo hard and at the same time, I was listening to **Tear** by Hatsune Miku.

That's all. Bye~!


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.**

Hell Week's finally over—but test results will be next week so… our suffering's not yet 1000% over. What a very sad, sad life. But hey, despite the lkjhgfdsadf pressure I'm feeling right now, I should be pretty much thankful that I survived HELL WEEK, neh?

And since fate has been showering blessing to me today (countless blessings), I have decided to grab the opportunity to update (yehey!)

Sorry for the delay, folks! Here's Chapter 07~!

* * *

**Chapter VII**

"_We'll visit her today, right?" Samantha asked, trying to hide her excitement. Alice glanced at her after she drank her tea and nodded "Yes. We'll leave the school together—like we always do." Samantha jumped with glee and gave her sister a hug, which caused Alice to almost let go of her teacup. _

"_We'll go there together, okay?" Samantha asked as she released her sister from the lock of her embrace. _

"_Yes. We'll go there together. That's a promise."_

* * *

The rain was still pouring hard when Alice reached the cemetery's entrance. Its tall iron gates were wide open. Alice took a few seconds to catch her breath. After that, she entered the cemetery.

As she passed by several graves, she saw extremely dim figures. She even saw a lady that was staring down at her tombstone. She tried to ignore the dim figures she could see and kept going.

She could already imagine countless scenarios in her head. She could imagine Sam shouting at her for "leaving" her alone at school. She could also imagine _him_ watching with amusement. As new scenarios entered her mind, she finally saw her mother's grave from where she was standing. She could also see her little sister—and _he_ was behind her, holding a black umbrella so that Sam won't get wet because of the rain.

She walked as fast and as unnoticeable as she could.

Rather than making a blasted scene in front of her mother's grave, she stopped behind _him_, took a deep breath, and pulled him by the collar of his white polo.

"You bloody bastard. What do you want?" Alice asked, trying to keep her voice low. The young lad chuckled darkly "Don't be so rude, love." he replied with amusement. Alice let him go, pushed him aside and grabbed Samantha's hand. The latter's eyes widened, unable to say anything.

"What are you trying to do this time, you bloody redhead?" Alice asked accusingly. "I have a name, you know. Stop calling me names, _dear sister_." the so-called redhead replied as he closed the umbrella and met the vivid green eyes of Alice.

"A-Alice…" Samantha held Alice's hand tighter "…I…I came with Ian by will—" Samantha said but Alice gave her a blank, cold stare.

"I _will_ let this pass—for now," Alice said to Sam then focused her gaze at Ian "but I won't let _you_ escape this easily, Ian." she concluded with iciness.

Ian smirked amusingly.

"Is that so? Then let's settle this _now_, shall we?" he challenged. Alice's free hand flinched. Samantha held her sister's hand tighter than the one earlier "Alice…p-please…not now…" she said in a whisper. Thunder roared from the skies.

"Samantha, stay here. Mother will need company." Alice said after the roar of thunder. Ian turned his back and walked away from the grave. Samantha slowly released Alice's hand and remained silent. Alice followed Ian, feeling guilt running around her conscience like a child who won a contest—it was like the guilt she was feeling was mocking her.

"Please take care of her, mother…" she mumbled.

* * *

When the two of them have reached the back of the cemetery's chapel, that's when Alice gave Ian a slap in the face. The slap was so hard that it made Ian move from where he was standing—it's like he almost fell or whatsoever.

"Answer my question, Ian. What. Do. You. Want?" Alice asked angrily. Ian snickered as he met Alice's gaze "Is it a sin to _bond_ with my stepsister—"

"Then _what_? I'll see my sister smoking weed out of the blue?! _Just get lost, you fucking bastard!_" Alice shouted back angrily, ignoring the fact that they were behind a chapel. Ian _tsk_ed, the amusement still present. The rain was beginning to be weak. "You really despise me, huh? That is just so…_damn unfortunate_, Alice." Ian said.

"You were the one who brought this upon yourself, Ian." Alice snapped back.

"Tell me about it, dear—"

"Do you think I can easily forget, Ian? Do _you_ think that I'll easily forget what you and your mother did?"

Silence.

"I am not the type of person who easily forgets, Ian. Remember _that_. With the amount of bloody crap you and your slutty mother did, do not expect a _healthy_ sibling relationship with me because _that_ will never ever happen. " Alice no longer waited for Ian's response and left him alone. Ian watched Alice leave and shook his head wearily.

"It seems that you cannot see the whole picture yet, _Alice Kirkland_."

* * *

The rain has finally stopped.

Samantha clutched her head with her right hand and stared at her mother's tombstone. Tears ran down from her blue eyes "Why did you have to leave, mother? I don't understand…" a chilly breeze blew past her, causing her to shiver "I think Alice is still hurt—of course _we're_ still hurt…b-but…" Samantha wiped her tears with the back of both hands "…she's the one who's more hurt…and the devastating fact about all of this…i-is that…" Samantha laid both of her hands on her mother's tombstone "…_I don't know a thing at all!_"

"You do not have to blame yourself, Samantha Kirkland."

Samantha looked back and met the vivid green eyes of her elder sister, Alice Kirkland. Alice was looking right into her eyes—and Sam could not deny that. Alice sat on her knees and tucked loose strands of Samantha's hair behind her ear. The latter was still silent. "I am sorry that…I got too angry. I…I was just too worried, Sam…" Alice broke the silence between the two of them.

"N-No…I should be the one to apologize," Samantha completely faced her sister "I…I was too scared that you already left me…" she added—and Alice could sense that her sister was not talking about the incident that happened in the campus a while ago.

"I _won't_ leave you. I promised, didn't I?" Alice held the hands of her sister. Samantha nodded slowly, a smile curving her lips—a smile that showed a new kind of confidence.

_I'll always be with you. Promise._

* * *

**IT'S SO GOOD TO BE BACK.**

**I MISSED THE SMELL OF FREEDOM. **

And again, I am sorry for the late update. I have been so busy…and I was too tired to update when the last day of our tests hit my calendar. Oh, the blessings…it's raining blessings here…joke.

Okay…I'm going to answer a question: Who the bloody hell is Ian?

Here's the answer: Ian=Scotland.

And for those who are wondering who Samantha is: Samantha=Fem!Sealand

…and I am hoping that you know what _weed_ is. xD

That's all~!


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.**

Something will happen on the 24th of freaking August…and I am freaking nervous. So, guys…how does it feel to be a European princess? I mean…we're going to wear freaking gowns! *grabs my gown—and a lighter* I am not excited about this. xD

…hello. It's raining sarcasm here—again. xD

Chapter 08~!

* * *

**Chapter VIII**

"You are terribly sick."

"No, I am not!" she said defiantly, covering herself with her white blanket.

"Stop denying. Do not deny the obvious." The young lad replied as he sat beside his troll.

"I…I just have to r-rest!" she protested after as series of terrible cough. The young lad _tsk_ed and shook his head.

"You are overdoing yourself. You have to rest. If _he_ was here, I think he would also tell you to do the same thing." he said as he patted the troll's head.

"Y-You do not understand…L-Lukas…" she snapped back and was followed by another series of coughs.

"If you want, I'll be the one to look over Alice Kirkland tomorrow."

"Y-You don't have to—"

"Eri. Please." the young lad said with so much…determination…and persistence that did not annoy the lady who was terribly sick.

"L-Lukas—"

The young lad stood up and sat on the ill lady's bed. He patted her shoulder and looked at her covered figure "Go back to the Otherworld first and replenish your energy. Otherwise, you might end up ceasing to exist."

* * *

"So, besides Ellerie Vermilion and our VP, who's absent?" Leanie asked as she looked at the whole class. She was checking the attendance—and she found it unusual to see an _A_ beside Ellerie Vermilion's name. The orange-eyed lady was never ever absent.

Her perfect attendance record was broken now.

"Wow…Vermil's absent. Weird." Alfred said after he glanced at Ellerie's chair. He heard Alice sigh, which totally caught his attention.

"Do you know why Vermil's absent, Ally?" Alfred asked. Alice looked at him blankly "Hell no." she replied as she closed her book. She was worried about Ellerie, too. She suddenly remembered how weary her friend looked yesterday.

"I think she is terribly ill, Alfred…" Alice said.

"She didn't look sick yesterday, did she?" Alfred asked.

"Maybe it happened in all of a sudden? Who knows…" Alice looked down, trying to calm herself down. Ever since seventh grade, Ellerie was always present—she even teased the vermilion-eyed girl that her immune system's superb.

"Since Class D's VP is currently _having a short break_ from her duties here in school, _I_ will take charge first for facilitating the planning for this year's _Batch Formal._ Got that?" Leanie announced.

"Batch…Formal? What's that?" Alfred asked, obviously confused.

"You got that right." Alice answered slowly.

"Do we even need that?" Alfred asked with a frown. Alice simply shrugged.

"I know that all of you are asking why we need to go through this," Leanie crossed her arms over her chest and glanced at Alfred then at Alice "here's the answer: if you don't do anything in this activity, do not be shocked to see your clearance permits as blank as a clean slate."

"So…why is she explaining all of this?" Alfred asked, trying to lessen the volume of his voice.

"Leanie Avirre is part of the Student Council—but she's not one of the _main_ officers. She's just in charge of the Events', I think…" Alice explained. Alfred nodded.

"Just to refresh everyone's minds, this activity's main objective it to _make this batch's bond stronger_. Pretty weird, hmm?" Leanie teased. Some of the girls looked at some of the class' so-called heartthrobs.

"This _is_ a freaking formal, alright? It's like prom…except it's prom _slash_ soiree." Leanie added. She glanced at her wrist watch and frowned "Okay guys, we shall discuss this during Study Period. Everyone, get your asses back to your proper places—"

…the bell rang—which means that first period's about to start…and well, their first period is Statistics—

"—NOW!"

* * *

It was already recess and the whole batch was already talking about the upcoming Batch Formal.

Since Ellerie's absent and Alfred didn't want Alice to be alone (because there's a 99.99% chance that _some_ bastards or bitches do something to her), he forced her to have her recess with him and his sister. At first, Alice didn't like the idea…but after Alfred pouted, Alfred knew that victory was already with him.

"So Meggy, do you already have a date for the Batch Formal?" Alfred asked, elbowing Meghan's arm. Meghan sighed and looked at Alfred "Alfred, don't be like our other batchmates…I…mean…the Formal's still weeks ahead." Meghan said.

"Ahahahahahaha~ are you too shy to tell me, ha?" Alfred teased.

"S-shut up! Why? What about you?" Meghan slapped her brother's shoulder over and over again.

"Me? Hmm…" Alfred aid after Meghan gave up with the slapping. He glanced at Alice and grinned widely.

Alice didn't seem to notice that Alfred grinned at her.

Meghan smiled and drank from her water bottle.

"Huh? W-why are you looking at me?!" Alice finally noticed that Meghan and Alfred were looking at her. A gentle breeze blew past them, causing the page that Alice was currently reviewing for their upcoming quiz in Social Studies to be flipped.

"You're too studious, Ally. Give yourself a break, you know…" Alfred gave Alice's shoulder a gentle slap.

"Why can't you be like her, Alfred?" Meghan asked, trying to suppress a grin.

"What the hell?" Alfred frowned.

"I mean—look at her. Can't you be as…as…uh…what's the right term…uh…" Meghan was having a hard time trying to find the best term that could describe Alice.

"Refined?" Alfred asked dully.

"If you want to consider that, I guess—"

"Screw refinement, Meggy." Alfred waved his hand lazily in the air. Meghan and Alice exchanged glances. Meggy blinked while Alice glared at Alfred.

"Bloody bastard." Alice murmured. Alfred slowly focused his gaze on Alice and ruffled the latter's pale blonde hair. "H-Hey! Stop that!" Alice protested but Alfred laughed, completely ignoring her protests.

In the end, it made Alice smile.

* * *

"Soooo, when will our _Batch Formal_ take place, Max?" Nea Tan asked as she sat on her seat. The girl she called 'Max' glanced at her with her icy blue eyes "Just sit your smart ass on your seat already, Nea." Max said after she flipped her chestnut brown hair with the back of her right hand. Nea snickered.

"So, where's Lea?" Max asked after glancing at Leanie's vacant seat. Alonique waved her hand, successfully capturing Max's attention "I think Lea-Wea went to the bookstore—"

"And what does she have to buy?" Max asked dully.

"I think Leanie said the she'll buy a new notebook—"

"_Whaaaaaaat?_ Didn't she buy 1 dozen of fillers yesterday? What will she do with the new notebook?" Max asked, failing to hide her shock—and annoyance. Sure, Leanie Avirrre's her 'little sister' but sometimes, she couldn't help but get annoyed with Leanie's random addiction: stationery materials.

Before Nea was able to answer, the room's white door flew open. Everyone looked at Leanie while the latter smiled despite the fact that she was catching her breath "S-Sorry…I…I…had…t-to b-buy—"

"A notebook?" Max asked. Leanie shook her head as she closed the door behind her and leaned her back against the white door "N-No…" she defended herself. Max raised a brow, unconvinced.

"Really?" she asked.

"Y-Yes! I…I bought a World Map!" Leanie shouted as she unrolled the world map she bought from the bookstore. Max and Nea facepalmed in chorus.

"You have got to be kidding me."

* * *

"Class D! Listen up!" Leanie slammed the blackboard with her right hand, bringing forth silence. Her head was still aching because of what Max did to her as her way of _lecturing_ her—at least she didn't twist her arm or something like that.

"We had our meeting a while ago during recess and ¼ of lunch…" Leanie leaned her back against the blackboard "…and we have decided that for this year, our _Batch Formal_ will take place _on Christmas Eve_."

After a nanosecond or two, 96% of the girls in class cheered.

"That's right~! So if I were you, I'd already grab my date and _voile_~!" Leanie raised both hands in the air "…besides, I don't think I'd want a _dating_ war to happen here. So, better start asking out, ladies and gentlemen!"

"So…we still have _three_ weeks?" Alfred asked himself. Of course, he nodded.

"So, save the 24th for our Batch Soi—I mean…Batch _Formal_." Leanie said and right after that, the bell rang, marking the end of today's Study Period.

* * *

"MeggyMeggyMeggyMeggy!" Alfred ran towards his sister and gave her a tight bear hug. Meggy patted her brother's shoulder, telling him to let her go otherwise she'd die earlier than she should really do.

"Sorry 'bout that, sis…" Alfred said. Meghan took several deep breaths before answering "S-Sure…so, what was that all about?" Meghan asked, fixing the sleeve of her shirt. "Meggy~ the Batch Soiree—"

"_Formal_, Alfred—" Meghan interrupted.

"—whatever, Meggy! As I was sayin' , the Batch Formal will be on Christmas Eve! Can you believe it—"

"Alfred." Meghan interrupted again but this time, she sounded serious. Alfred met the gaze of Meghan's purple eyes.

"Alfred…Christmas Eve's already taken, remember?" Meghan asked—reminded, actually. Alfred frowned "Meggy—"

"Alfred. I know that you want Alice to be your date for the Batch Formal but…we already had a deal, remember? Besides, if you choose the Formal over _them_, they might get quite disappointed."

"Meggy, I think they'll understand. Besides, they are not like you—"

"W-What do you mean?!" Meghan's purple eyes widened.

"Pfffft—they are not trolls." Alfred said jokingly.

"S-Shut up, Alfred! A-Anyway, l-let's just go home now, please?" Meghan pleaded wearily.

"Sure, sure…"

* * *

"So…are you feeling better now, Eri?" Lukas asked as he watched the lady materialize from the woods behind her house. The lady stretched both arms upwards and smiled faintly "Yes…but I was not able to see him."

"Eri, I think he's still on his quest." Lukas said stoically. The lady nodded in agreement to what Lukas said.

"So, how did the day go for Alice?" she asked.

"She was worried about you…and it seems that your batch's already planning for your upcoming…what they called it— ah! _Batch_ _Formal." _Lukas said. The lady in front of him nodded "Thanks a lot, Lukas."

"The honor's mine, Eri." Lukas teased.

"So tell me, was it really you who guarded Alice or…" she glanced at her friend's sleeping troll "…_he_ did?"

"The both of us did…but he guarded more than I did." Lukas admitted.

"Geez, Lukas. Don't be like that." the lady teased.

After a few moments of silence, Lukas woke his troll up, bade farewell to the lady and dematerialized.

* * *

Alice's batch is too awesome that they're having their own formal. xD

Actually, it was supposed to be an official _Winter Formal_ but…I suddenly rejected the idea. DX

I want to scrape my face off my skull and throw it to the nearest trash bin- /shot.

Nea, Max and Alonique are OCs. Sorry for the OC overload, okay?

Better start cramming for my Algebra II PT now.

Bye~!


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.**

Thank God I was able to have enough time to write this chapter. Sure, we have a long weekend because of a 2-day holiday but our teachers bombarded us with homeworks. Plus, I've been playing Ib lately ;)

And now, I present to you: Chapter 09~! xD

(I won't put the roman numerals anymore…since it's not **that** necessary anyway. xD)

* * *

"You won't cook for tonight, dear."

Those six words made Alice's brows furrow. She should be happy that she won't have to cook for tonight…but the thing is that the one who said it to her was her one and only stepmother, Cordelia.

"Why?" she couldn't help but ask.

"We'll be out for tonight—by _we_, I only meant me and my children. And besides, Henry won't be home tonight, right?" Cordelia asked, her arms crossed over her chest. Alice nodded slowly.

"If you want to cook for your sister, you can do so. That's all." Cordelia said and left Alice alone in the living room. Alice waited for Cordelia to enter her room before she mumbled something.

When 6:00 PM finally hit the clock, Cordelia, along with her daughter and two sons, left the house. They weren't really wearing extravagant clothing. It's like they were just going to the mall or something like that.

Alice went to Samanatha's room to tell her that they finally left. When Samantha heard what her sister said, she couldn't help but jump in joy. Right now, the house is all theirs.

"So, what do you want to do?" Alice asked.

"I don't know…" Samantha said after a weary sigh "…I'm still full…" she added. Alice nodded in agreement.

Basically, the Kirkland sisters had nothing to do.

"Why don't we go out?" Samantha asked, breaking the silence between the two of them. As she met her sister's vivid green eyes, she blinked and asked "Why? Is there something wrong with going out?"

"Nothing's wrong about it, Sam. It's just that…"

"What?" Samantha immediately asked.

"…nothing. Okay, we'll go out, too…but we'll not stay out for so long, got that?" Alice asked.

"Sure~!"

* * *

The evening clouds were hiding the stars that were supposed to dominate the night sky, which greatly disturbed Ellerie. It's been raining too much lately, which was a little weird. She suddenly remembered something.

She had no idea whether whatever she remembered was significant or otherwise.

She looked at the starless evening sky again and a chilly breeze blew past her. She looked around and frowned. She had been feeling so uneasy lately—and she hated it. She knew that she was not the type of person who could feel uneasy or something like that for no particular reason at all.

She wanted to investigate…but she couldn't.

_The batch formal_…_and its settled date_…

Nothing's really wrong with the batch formal to happen on the 24th of December…right?

She bit her lower lip and looked down. Alice has been silent lately about her visions. The latter did not even bother to tell whether she was still having visions or otherwise. She has asked her several times but she would always get the same answer: "It's none of your concern, Elle."

She could feel that Alice has been seeing visions…

…unpleasant visions, that is.

* * *

_As the rain began to fall from the evening sky, they immediately ran to the covered sidewalk. Everyone was beginning to leave, of course. Some street lights were blinking on and off, which made her a little bit nervous. As long as she's still with her, it'll be all right—that's for sure._

_The rain poured harder, which made her wince._

_They should be home right now since it was 10 minutes before eight in the evening. Now, no one was in sight._

"_How are we supposed to go home?" she asked as she sat on her knees. She looked down at her and shrugged "I guess we should wait for the rain to stop…" was all she was able to suggest._

_Minutes passed but the rain was still pouring terribly hard._

_When was the last time it rained like this?_

_Ten years ago?_

_It was also evening when it rained this hard._

That _tragic evening._

_She slapped herself internally and took a deep breath._

_Nothing will happen tonight…_

_She was suddenly pulled back to reality when she realized that… she was all alone. _

…_where did _she_ go? _

_She felt a shiver run down her spine when she heard the swing's chains make a sound. She immediately turned around but no one was there. The swing was moving on its own—probably because of the wind._

_Still, she was nervous—and scared. _

_Then, in all of a sudden, she heard the sound of screeching tires._

* * *

It was already 7:43 in the evening and the park was beginning to be deserted.

Alice tapped her right foot impatiently on the ground, trying to find a way to tell her sister that they should be on their way home right now. Samantha was busy looking at the roses—red, white and light pink roses—at the flower shop across the bench she was sitting on right now.

After a few more minutes, Samantha finally came out of the flower shop. She was smiling for a reason that Alice could not decipher. When Samantha crossed the mini street between the shop and the bench where her sister was seated, they heard a roll of thunder.

Alice immediately stood up and glanced at her watch.

_7:46 PM_.

"Let's go n—"

Another roll of thunder.

"Samantha, grab my hand and let's go home now…" Alice rephrased her sentence. After Samantha grabbed her hand, a chilly wind blew past them…

…and after that, rain poured down from the sky.

As the rain began to fall from the evening sky, they immediately ran to the covered sidewalk. Everyone ran as well—but the thing is that they ran _home_.

Visions.

Some visions could have another meaning, right?

She knew that.

She should not take visions in a completely literal way.

Some visions could mean something different.

"How are we supposed to go home?" Samantha asked, looking at the evening sky with a frown. She sat on her knees and embraced them. It was cold, alright. Alice understood that.

Now that the park's mostly deserted (some shops were beginning to close for the night due to the nasty weather), she felt more nervous. Alice blinked, telling herself _not_ to reminisce about the tragic night that happened ten years ago. She was with Arthur when it happened…and whatever happened during that night caused drastic changes…

…changes that caused her to be stuck in _this_ present.

"Alice?" Samantha took her attention, which made her relieved.

"Yes?" she asked.

"I…I think I forgot my purse in the flower shop."

Alice suddenly felt that the nervousness and uneasiness inside her were beginning to eat her up.

"Alice…? Y-you look pale. Are you okay?" Samantha asked.

"Y-yes…I'm alright." Alice lied.

_I should not let her go back to the shop. She should be with me until the rain weakens._

"I think the shop's already closed, Sam. Let's just get it tomorrow—"

"I think it's still open, Alice." Samantha interrupted as she pointed her finger towards the direction of the flower shop…

…and yes, it was still open.

This left Alice thinking about various scenarios.

If she would allow Samantha to get her purse, there's a big possibility for whatever she saw in her vision to happen.

If she would be the one to get the purse for Sam, there's a chance for Sam to follow her and then she ends up…

What would she do now?

* * *

Yeah…what would Alice do now?

The supernatural side of the story's beginning to unravel itself, hmm?

And yes, Arthur was [finally] mentioned. Actually, he has been mentioned for several times already…but I didn't refer to him as "Arthur". Now, I just did. xD

About my other FanFic (the Hetalia x Iron Fey Series crossover), **I'll update it soon**. I just need to revise some parts later.

Before I end this, let me tell you that the Lady in Red never fails to make me scream…and the Lady in Blue, too. Well…basically, the portraits with ladies painted on them [ I can't help but call them: The Lady in (insert color here)] never fail to make me scream whenever they begin to chase me.

Okay…sorry for the random note.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia**

Sorry for the late update…I was catching up with my sleep…since the Bio PT made me have an awesome preview of hell…okay I was just exaggerating but I think you get the point. Since I was too stressed and I rested, I had to reread Chapter 9 so that I'll be able to write something…un-random? xD

You are free to strangle me to death if you get disappointed with this chapter. I'll completely understand. Either strangle me or criticize me in your review…yeah.

* * *

_What am I going to do?_

Alice could not think of a scenario where Sam won't end up getting hit by a fucking car. Either there was no other way or she could not think wider because of the paranoia. Even though the vision did not show that Sam would get hit by a car that lost its control because of the rain, it's better safe than sorry.

"Alice, I really need to—"

"No. _I_ will get the purse for you," Alice immediately interrupted "but you'll have to stay where you are right now. If I have to tie you so that you won't be able to leave, then I'll be happy to do that…" she added. She did not sound sarcastic or anything like that…because she was actually dead serious about the idea of tying her sister—if she had the chance to do so. Besides, Sam would definitely obey her, right?

Before ask could even ask why, Alice ruffled her sister's hair "Just…just don't ask, okay?" she smiled nervously and slowly faced the flower shop.

_Nothing bad will happen…I am just being too paranoid or something…_ Alice said to herself and crossed the mini street—

"ALICE!"

The next flow of events was too fast.

Alice looks at her right and sees the same car that she saw in her vision—just a few inches (if she would estimate it…probably 20-30?). She could hear Sam running—Sam was planning to push her away from the car…then what?! She'll be the one who'll get hit by the car. Alice told herself that she would not allow that to happen. So, she told herself to ran back to her little sister and give her a reassuring hug…

…but her body remained passive.

As the car was getting near her, she could also feel that Sam was just a few steps away from her. For some reason, instead of running away, she faced the direction of the car—

"MOVE IT, ALICE—"

Before Sam even had the chance to push her, the two of them watched as the car managed to swerve (it was still out of control) and ended up hitting the shop that was just a shop or two away from the place where Alice left Sam.

Luckily, the store was already closed.

Alice couldn't help but fall on her knees and allow her mind to process what happened.

"Alice—" Samantha immediately gave her a tight hug and she felt the latter crying on her shoulder "I…I thought you'd get hit by the car!" Samantha wailed. Alice patted her sister's head "E-Everything's all right now, Sam…don't worry…" Alice said then looked at the car.

Her eyes widened.

She could see…the car wrapped with…_magic_.

Some might want to call it _glamour_ but it's bloody _**magic**__._

It means that magic was the reason why the car swerved. If the magic was not there, she should have been hit by the freaking car. Alice tried to stand up but again, her body remained passive to her mind's commands.

"Are you okay?"

Alice glanced at the flower shop and saw a young lady (a little bit older than her) with long beige-like hair—her hair reached the lady's waist. The lady also had beautiful lilac eyes. She was wearing a light rose-colored scarf and was carrying a black umbrella. As the lady approached her, she felt that the lady was not a normal human being. Finally, Alice was able to stand up and gulped upon realizing the difference between her and the lady's height. She also noticed that the lady was holding Samantha's purse.

"Ah! My purse! Thank you very much, Miss Anya!" Samantha said as the lady named _Anya_ smiled at her and gave the purse to Sam. Alice glanced at Sam then at Anya.

"I would like to introduce myself to you," Anya's smile was still in her face…plus, Alice noticed that Anya sounded Russian with the way she spoke "my name is Anya Braginskaya. It is a pleasure to meet you."

It felt weird that Anya was introducing herself to the Kirkland Sisters right after they luckily escaped the tragic fate of getting hit by a car.

"I am Samantha Kirkland and this is my sister, Alice Kirkland," Sam took the liberty of introducing themselves to Anya "thank you for getting my purse again, Miss Anya~!" Samantha added joyfully. Anya nodded, humming a short, joyful tone.

"No problem, Samantha. And please, do not call me _miss_. It makes me feel old." Anya said after the short humming. Now, she looked at Alice.

"You look stunned, Alice. Did you get any injuries?" Anya asked, her voice proved how concerned Anya was. Alice shook her head slowly "I feel perfectly fine, Anya. You don't have to worry anymore…" Alice said wearily.

"I am glad about that. I think you two should be going right now…" Anya's tone suddenly changed into a serious one and her smile was also replaced with a stoic expression "…I will be the one to handle this."

"But—" Alice was about to protest but Anya gave her a blank stare…

…a blank stare that meant Anya was not willing to state her intentions.

"O-Okay…thanks again, Anya…" Alice said as she grabbed Samantha's wrist and went home. As Anya watched the two figures become smaller as the gap between them got bigger, she smiled at herself…

"Those girls can not die yet…especially the one named Alice Kirkland."

* * *

When Alice and Sam got home, Cordelia and her children were not yet home, making them a thousand times relieved. Sam looked at Alice from head to toe and _tsk_ed. "Alice, you scraped your knee…" Samantha said. Alice looked at her left knee and was quite surprised because she did not notice that she actually injured herself. Probably it was because she fell on her knees right after the accident that they were able to escape. Sam was about to get the first aid kit but Alice stopped her "I'll be fine. I'll just be the one to deal with this myself. You go upstairs and change your clothes. You might catch a cold."

"Are you sure?" Sam asked.

"Yes, yes. Now, go." Alice gave a reassuring smile. Sam did not buy it—at all…but rather than seeing her sister go mad or whatsoever, she just obeyed what Alice said. When Alice heard Sam entering her room, that's when she began contemplating about what happened at the park earlier.

The Russian lady named Anya Braginskaya…

…that Russian girl has magic.

Alice immediately took her phone from her black shoulder bag and called the only person she could ask about situations like _this_.

* * *

Ellerie was already lying in bed, preparing to sleep when her phone suddenly rang out of the blue. She glared at her phone before answering the call.

"Ellerie speaking—" she began but was cut off after hearing Alice's voice.

"E-Elle…" Alice said, her voice shaking.

"What's wrong, Alice?" she asked, trying to stay calm.

"I…I encountered someone a while ago…" Alice said. Ellerie felt that Alice skipped a big part of the whole story but she continued listening anyway "…and I think that she knows how to use magic."

"Huh? Magic does not even exist in this world, right? Ellerie asked her sarcastically.

"Elle, I am serious! I think she is the reason why I was able to escape the arms of death tonight!" Alice snapped back. Ellerie felt her blood ran cold.

"Okay, okay…what about this lady you are talking about?" Ellerie asked.

"As I was saying, I think she knows how to use magic or something—"

"What's her name?" Ellerie asked.

"Anya…Anya Braginskaya, I think…" Alice sounded unsure at first but then she sounded sure later on.

_Anya Braginskaya?_ Ellerie asked herself.

"Does not sound familiar to me…heck—how am I supposed to know someone with magic, anyway—" Ellerie ranted but she heard Alice groan.

"That's the bloody point why I called you, Elle! You said that you can see whether someone knows how to use magic or not, right? As in whether they are supernatural or not?" Alice asked, obviously beginning to lose her patience.

"Uh…yeah?" Ellerie replied, sounding unsure for some strange reason.

"Okay…can you help me identify whether Anya's normal or not?" Alice asked.

Ellerie felt like she wanted to throw her phone to the wall.

"Alice…I know you feel grateful and all that to the lady you call Anya-_something_ but don't you think you're…going too far by believing that this person has or even knows the thing you call _magic_?" Ellerie tried her best not to shout at Alice but…failed.

"I—I don't give a damn about what you think right now, Ellerie! Are you going to help me or not?" Alice said, which made Ellerie angrier.

"No. I am _not_ going to help you. Besides, you don't care about what I think, right?" Ellerie answered back bitterly. Alice remained silent.

"And besides, I think you can find it out all by yourself. Don't put whatever your mother taught you to waste." Ellerie added and after that, she ended the bloody conversation.

After putting down her phone, she tried to remember whether she knew someone named Anya Braginskaya or not—

"Oh crap…" was all Ellerie managed to say.

* * *

The following week (it was already Monday), Ellerie Vermilion was absent—again.

"Whoa…Vermil's absent again? What's happening to her lately…?" Alfred asked, glancing at Ellerie's empty desk. Alice tried to ignore it at first but she felt all the guilt inside her pulling her down. Ellerie was probably upset with the way they conversation ended last Friday.

"Who knows…" Alice was all Alice managed to say.

"Hey, Ally…" Alfred began. Alice faced him and met Alfred's blue eyes "What?" she asked.

"…uh…about the—" before Alfred was able to finish his sentence, their Statistics teacher entered their classroom. Alfred could not help but swear. _Why did the fucking teacher decide to enter at the wrong time?_ Alfred asked himself.

Alice blinked "About the what, Alfred?" she asked.

"I-I'll just ask you some other time…" Alfred said as he stood up along with the other students to greet their Stat teacher a _very good morning_.

* * *

"Who am I supposed to look for again?" Lukas asked, a little bit confused.

"I'll help you look for her…"

'Okay, then. Just tell me the name and we can start searching right now." Lukas said stoically. This did not excite _her_ at all.

"We are going to look for a lady named Anya Braginskiya."

* * *

What did Ellerie suddenly remember about the Russian lady named Anya Braginskiya?

What was Alfred supposed to ask Alice before their blasted Stat teacher decided to enter their classroom?

To be continued…?

Thanks to all the reviews~! They really make me...happy...plus, they motivate me (I guess?).

**Please** leave a review~ it really helps! If you think that the story's beginning to have plot holes, please tell me! It would really help me—big time! If you don't leave a freaking review, I'll ask the Lady in Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow to chase you! Nah...I was just joking!

I'm so happy that I got _Promise of Reunion_ for my ending in Ib.

I'm off now~ xD


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia **

Sophomore schedule status: HECTIC.

Emotional status: way beyond broken—currently recovering from a week of emotional breakdowns…but breakdowns still occur from time to time (God, I want to recover already but…I_ can't._)

No worries—I won't put anything like a series of emotional breakdowns, scissor-holding addiction and/or other absurdities (that I am experiencing right now) in this fan fic… I don't want to mess this fan fic so much that I'll fail to fix the mess later on. (this may serve as a warning, perhaps?)

* * *

Meghan Williams had no idea how she was supposed to react with what she just read.

She was about to deposit her first two subjects' textbooks in her locker when a neatly folded piece of white paper suddenly fell on the floor right after she opened her locker. She unfolded the note, read the message, and it left her speechless in a way that either she was shocked or simply disgusted. She couldn't tell how she felt at the moment.

After depositing her textbooks in her locker, she went straight to the caf, where her brother was eating his recess—with Alice.

Meghan sat silently beside Alice and looked at Alfred.

"Meggy? Is anything wrong?" he asked after he took a bite from his hamburger. Meghan waited for Alfred to finish chewing his food and swallow it before she spoke "I got a…um…note from someone."

"A note?" Alice asked. Meghan glanced at her then nodded.

"Yes. Apparently, the sender of the note did not tell who she or he is…but something tells me that a _guy_ wrote it—"

"Seriously, Meggy? What did the note say anyway?" Alfred asked. He was teasing Meghan but not that much.

"It said something like…" Meghan did not know how to summarize what that simple note contained.

"Do you have the note with you?" Alice asked.

"Yes. It's in my pocket right now—"

"May I read it?" Alice's vivid green eyes made her say yes immediately for a reason she could not decipher. She handed the note to Alice and the latter unfolded the paper. Before she even began reading its content, she immediately frowned.

"What class are you in, Meghan?" Alice asked, her gaze focused on the note.

"Uh…Class B—"

"I did not notice you when I came there. Weird…" Alice mumbled to herself. She returned the note to Meghan, disgust evident in her pale face.

"I did not expect him to be…like this…" Alice said.

"He? So wait—you know who gave me the note?" Meghan asked, hoping that Alice really knows who gave her the freaky little note.

"WHAT DOES THE NOTE SAY, PEOPLE. CAN'T YOU HEAR ME?" Alfred shouted. Alice glanced at him then _tsk_ed. "Don't make a scene here, Alfred. Act like a civilized person." When Alfred blinked and remained silent, Alice looked at Meghan and nodded "Only _that_ silver-headed bastard can give that—"

"S-Silver…headed bastard? D-Don't tell me…" Meghan's eyes widened upon realizing…

"Yes, Meghan. Apparently, the person who's asking you to be his date for the upcoming batch formal is none other than Gilbert Beilschmidt."

* * *

After the bloody revelation during recess, Alice went back to her classroom (with Alfred) and was frozen in her spot upon seeing assorted colors of post-its on her desk. She took a closer look at the post-its and was left speechless upon reading the one at the very center of the post-its mosaic. The one in the center was a plain while post-it and its contents were written with a red marker:

NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO, YOU ARE STILL A WITCH.

Before Alfred even had the chance to take a peek of what was written on the post-its, she pulled all the post-its from her desk, crumpled them, and placed it in the pocket of her black jeans.

"Alice…what was that all about?" Alfred asked, obviously worried.

"N-Nothing…I think they are just…uh…nothing serious, okay?" Alice didn't sound convincing, which made Alfred worry more. _Alfred should not be dragged into this_, Alice thought. Whoever sent the freaking note was a damn genius—he/she's right. No matter how normal Alice acts in school, everyone will still see her as a deceitful, despicable, evil witch.

As the bell rang, Alice left the classroom without saying anything.

* * *

Alice could not help but contemplate. How did her life became so screwed up that she felt way beyond…imprisoned?

She could not stop herself from remembering the days when she was just a normal student. She could make friends with anyone; no one bullied her, and all that. Everything used to be so fucking normal until…_a series of unfortunate events happened_.

She leaned her back against the library's plain wall and released a heavy, weary sigh. She was already getting tired of fighting against those Alpha Bitches and the rules they have established. Add the fact that her non-biological sister, Ainsley I. Kirkland, was part of those Alpha Bitches. Add to that fact the other fact that it was Ainsley herself who established the fucking rule.

Alice was thankful that Ms. Semilla did not mind her presence in the library. In fact, Ms. Semilla left her alone in the library so that no awkwardness would be felt between the two of them. (Ms. Semilla simply went to the other side of the HS library)

_Do not waste what you're mother taught you._

Alice couldn't help but hypothesize that Ainsley saw her doing some sort of BASIC magic when she (Alice) was around 8 years old at their backyard in the middle of the night. Alice was depressed back then due to her mother's death plus Arthur's self isolation. She was trying to _communicate_ with her mother…but she failed.

Maybe she really is a witch after all.

But people nowadays misinterpret what a freaking witch is. People would immediately think of an old hag wearing a huge-sized black hat and a long licorice black cape. This old hag would also have a broomstick with her so that she could fly.

Nowadays, people's imagination is just too colorful.

"Ally? Are you here?"

Alice's vivid green eyes widened upon hearing the voice of Alfred F. Jones. Instead of hiding like a child, she stayed in her place and replied "I am here."

And so, Alfred approached her.

"You're cutting classes. That's uncivilized." Alice said—monotone.

"You're also cutting classes. That means we're both uncivilized, right?" Alfred asked with a grin.

"Why are you here?" Alice asked wearily.

"I am worried about you, Ally. Anything wrong?" he asked. Alice could not dare herself to look into the bottomless blue eyes of Alfred F. Jones.

"Nothing. I'm just too tired, I guess…" Alice lied.

"I doubt that." Alfred said dully.

Alice crossed her arms over her chest and looked at Alfred from head to toe. God, he's so tall now…unlike before—

"Well then, Alfred. Can you guess what's wrong?" Alice asked in a rather…taunting, agitated, and tired way. She was already beginning to feel imprisoned again—thanks to the kind note that reminded her that she was nothing but a screwed up witch.

Silence answered her with silence.

"Damn it all…" Alice muttered as she looked down, took a deep breath, and looked at Alfred—again.

"You can tell me, Ally. I'll listen." Alfred said calmly.

"Alfred, I don't…I don't want you to regret this." Alice said bitterly. Sure, she liked Alfred being with her and all that but what would happen later on? They'll simply regret it.

Alice was expecting Alfred to ask "Regret what, exactly?" or something like that. Unfortunately, that's not how fate wanted it to be.

"Alice Kirkland, you realize that saying all this crap to me in order to distance yourself from me or vice versa will never ever lessen my affection for you. Ever." he said [in a very civilized manner].

"E-Excuse me?!" was all Alice managed to say after her mind has processed what Alfred said to her.

"I know that right now, I have no fucking idea what's happening. It's total bullshit to me right now. Alice, I want to know why you're doing this. You know that keeping the truth for me won't help, right?" Alfred said as he clasped his hands over Alice's shoulders.

"I am not yet ready to tell you everything, Alfred. I am sorry."

"Don't be sorry about it, Ally. Don't be scared to tell me. Like what I told you, my affection for you will never ever be lessened."

_I doubt that, you asshat. Maybe if I tell you, you'll leave me alone. Blast it all. Blast it all. BLAST IT ALL, DAMN IT._ Alice said to herself internally.

Alice took a deep breath and looked into Alfred F. Jones' blue eyes.

"I am a witch."

* * *

"Where the hell can we find this lady named Anya Braginskaya?"

"Don't be impatient, Eri—"

"Goddammit I need to find that freaking Russian."

"Eri, don't be too stressed about this. You might burn the whole city with your frustration or something…"

Heck. They have been searching for Anya Braginskaya for like…half a day? Sure, it's short but as mystical and/or supernatural creatures, they should have found the Russian lady named Anya Braginskaya in less than a blasted hour or something like that.

"You know the feeling that you can't see her but you can feel her goddamned presence? THAT'S HOW I FEEL RIGHT NOW. GOD, THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING." Lukas has never heard the orange-eyed lady swear like that. She was the type of lady who would not really swear…but now, she's swearing like hell.

"Calm down, Eri. We'll find Anya. Somehow." he said stoically.

"Somehow." she repeated.

"Somehow." Lukas reassured.

"Okay." and finally, she has calmed down.

* * *

"_Oh my fucking God, Alice_. You are the prettiest witch I've ever seen in my life. I am the luckiest dude in this planet."

"Alfred." Alice called Alfred's attention bitterly. She was not expecting _this_ kind of reaction from Alfred. She was expecting him to be like "What the hell are you talking about?" or something similar to that.

"I am damn serious. Alice, YOU ARE TOO BEAUTIFUL TO BE A FUCKING WITCH." Alfred said with exaggeration that caused Alice to facepalm—twice.

"I'm using magic to make me look pretty. To hide all my wrinkles and such. Basically, I am using bloody magic to hide my crappy appearance." Alice said sarcastically.

"God, Alice. Don't say things like that." Alfred finally said with seriousness.

Alfred did not take the revelation seriously.

How frustrating.

"I am bloody serious, you git. I AM A WITCH." Alice emphasized the last part of her statement. Alfred ruffled her pale blonde hair while chuckling.

"Alice, don't tell me that Abby was actually telling the truth that you're…uh…a witch."

"Holy sweet hell, she is telling the bloody truth, alright." Alice said—sarcastically.

"God, you're too sarcastic." Alfred remarked.

"I know, right?" Alice teased.

"But…seriously?" Alfred asked, the seriousness slowly returning. Alice shrugged "Well, that's what the students in this bloody campus say. Especially my non-biological sister." Alice replied. Alfred nodded slowly as his brain absorbed and processed what Alice said. "So that explains the bitter attitude of _almost_ everyone towards you."Alfred concluded. Alice nodded wearily "Yes, yes."

"I swear to God that I really don't believe in magic and all its crap but…hearing it from _you_—"

"So, are you going to stay away from me now that I REVEALED my true identity to you, human?" Alice asked, trying to sound creepy but it only caused Alfred to laugh more.

"Hell no. In fact, Alice Kirkland, I would be happy to hang out with you more." Alfred said defiantly as he tucked a portion of Alice's hair behind her ear. Alice blinked.

"Don't blame me for your downfall, Alfred." Alice said icily—but not super icy. Just the normal iciness.

"I'll be happy to fall down because of you, Alice."

"Be careful of what you say." Alice teased.

"Thanks for the advice?" Alfred's brows furrowed.

"You are welcome." Alice answered back.

"So I fell in love with the prettiest witch on Earth, huh. Epic." Alfred gave Alice a superultramegahyper bear hug.

"A-A-Alfred…" Alice tried to call Alfred's attention but she smiled later on.

_Alfred has not changed at all. You should see it yourself, Arthur._

* * *

**[06 September 2012] **~Yes: I made the author's note first before the chapter itself. LOL~

I reread this whole (as in all the chapters so far) FanFic for like…2-3 times… and well…for me, I think I am beginning to…uh…how am I supposed to say this…_I think the story is beginning to lose sense_. I don't know how you see it but yeah…

…and right now I have no idea how I am supposed to return it to its original plot. (yes, it had a different plot, actually…and I ignored it.)

If I **fail** to fix this FanFic's plot (and setting—yes…I have setting issues. As in I have no idea where the story's taking place. That probably explains the curriculum in school?), either **I'll abandon it** (but as much as possible, I am _trying_ to take this option out of my list) **or finish it**—but trust me, you might…uh…hate the ending? Well, people have different tastes, right?

THANK YOU FOR ALL THE REVIEWS. I LOVE YOU ALL. I LOVE YOU ALL LIKE HOLY SWEET HELL. THANK YOU. xD

I couldn't resist the temptation (blame curiosity and *tweet*) to reply at this review: (_note: __**nothing personal here**__…I mean…no worries—I am not offended or hurt with your review, okay?_)

**surrender moors**: when I saw your review after I reviewed for our upcoming Bio quiz (and talked to someone really important) , I was like "…what is this supposed to mean?" In short—I had no idea whether I should consider the review as…a bad sign or something good that has been wrapped with overflowing sarcasm. I was even like "I NEED TO TALK TO THIS PERSON—NOW." (please don't imagine me saying this in an angry way. I actually said this in a very…nervous and/or **unconfident** way) but then I realized that you were a guest so…yeah.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia**

Hi Earthlings.

Our 2nd mid-quarter exams (MQTs) are around the corner. Our awesome teachers have decided to put all the tests with numbers in 'em together-ish. xD

And because of the MQTs and all that, I might not be able to update next week. Sorry 'bout the inconvenience, Earthlings.

**Please leave a review**. Suggestions—if you want. xD

**Any kind of review**—from the nicest to the nastiest review—**will definitely do**.

Chapter 12~

* * *

"So you really have no idea who did the post-its thingy?" Meghan asked Alice. It was already study period—screwed up study period—and they were all left unguarded by the teachers. The teachers were currently having a meeting. The officers, on the other hand, were already planning things out for the upcoming Batch Formal.

So right now, Alice and Meghan were hanging out in the library.

Meghan already knew about the rumors—ever since her first day in the school. She had been warned by some _kind_ classmates from Class B. Unfortunately, Meghan was not the type of person who believed in rumors.

She'll have to see evidences first to support the rumor.

"Either Abby Santiago's friends did it or…"

"…or?"

"…or my non-biological sister did it." Alice finished tiredly.

There was silence for a while. While Alice was replaying how the whole revelation went a while ago inside her head, Meghan was thinking whether she'd directly ask Gilbert about the note or whatsoever.

Before any of them was able to speak, someone arrived.

"Oh. You're hanging out in the library, huh?" Leanie Avirre asked with a smile despite her haggard look at the moment. Leanie was carrying a brown notebook and a black pen with her.

"Hi Lea. Want to join us?" Alice asked tiredly. Leanie shook her head slowly "I would love to, Alice…but Max has been barking orders lately. She wants the Batch Formal to be so perfect. Heck."

"Oh. Knowing Maxine Melidru…" Alice decided to leave the sentence unfinished.

"Oh—Alice. Someone was looking for you before I arrived here." Leanie suddenly seemed serious despite the tiredness she was currently experiencing.

"Someone?" Alice asked.

"Uh…yeah. Someone from the…" she pointed her black pen upwards "…there."

Silence.

"Okay. So the 'someone' from up there told me to tell you that you are totally pissing her off." Leanie finally said.

"Is she one of the many Alpha Bitches in this school that I've pissed off? Yeah…I'm quite used—"

"She's not any ordinary Alpha Bitch, Alice…I'm afraid." Leanie said in almost a whisper.

"Huh?" Alice's brows furrowed.

"Uh…it was your sister who said that, Alice. And I think that she wanted to literally kill you with the scalpel she was carrying when I saw her. Creepy…" Leanie muttered the last word.

"So that's why you came here?" Alice asked dully.

"No. I came to the library to pick up the circulars regarding the Batch Formal." Leanie answered after an exhausted sigh.

"Thanks."

"Sure thing, Alice. Oh—gotta go now~ I might lose my head if I return to the SC room late. Later~" and with that, Leanie was gone.

"I could imagine your... non biological sister carrying a scalpel while looking for you." Meghan said. Alice glanced at her then smiled wearily "I was actually expecting her to carry an axe or something like that." Alice said sarcastically.

"Your stepfamily hates you?" Meghan asked.

"Well, 75% of them, perhaps? One of them doesn't even give a damn at all so I think he's neutral." Alice answered in a matter of fact tone. Meghan nodded slowly.

Silence—again.

"Uh…Alice?" Meghan broke the silence a few moments later.

"What?"

Meghan hesitated. She was worried that Alice would either leave the question unanswered or she'd lie. She had to convince herself that she had to know how Alice sees her brother. Besides, she even had no idea whether Alice still remembered her or she was just playing with the game they're in. Meghan took a deep breath…

"Is Alfred simply a _friend_ for you?"

* * *

The sky was already salmon pink and they have failed to find the Russian lady named Anya Braginskaya.

Ellerie was pretty much frustrated about the fact that she failed to find Anya. Because of this, she wanted to believe what her sister said to her when she returned to the Otherworld to heal herself when she was terribly sick.

"The more time you spend in the mortal world, the weaker your magic becomes. If your magic's really running low, you're existence is at stake."

She already told Lukas to go home since his brother was waiting for him.

Now, she was alone. She was currently airborne, her arms crossed over her chest.

She has been 'Ellerie Vermilion' for seven years.

She must be holding some sort of record.

She clutched her head with her right hand and sighed frustratingly. Why was she doing this in the first place? There were times that she would ask herself that same question when her faith was beginning to waver. She could be considered weak for the denizens of the Otherworld—why did she even decided to become Alice Kirkland's—

Her chain of thoughts was suddenly cut as she felt a force approaching her. She looked around and shivered right after a gust of cold wind greeted her. Her hands flinched.

"I was expecting you to find me before twilight came, _Erielle_."

She tried to keep calm and stoic as the Russian lady named Anya Braginskaya appeared right in front of her, wearing a black headdress, a black dress with red flowers all over them, and mahogany brown boots.

"You look so…so human." Anya said with a smile—a smile that was filled with sinister and malice behind it.

"The same goes for you, Anya," Ellerie said icily "I was not expecting you to show up here. What on earth do you want?" she decided to went straight to the point.

Anya simply smiled at her.

Anya stretched out her right hand and a shovel—a really huge one—slowly materialized in front of Anya. As Anya grabbed the shovel, she hummed a short tune before answering Ellerie's question.

"I shall answer your question—_since you are about to die anyway_."

And with that, Anya swung the shovel and smiled her most sinister smile.

* * *

**I have finally decided, Earthlings. **

**I will FINISH this fan fic—I realized how much I love it (even if it's so shitty and all that). I will not abandon this fan fic—I'll continue writing it.**

If you've been stalking my freaking blog…you'll see some of my drawings there—I can only draw with freaking pen and paper (and I am bloody proud of it). I was just wondering how all of you see my…uh…frequently featured OCs (Ellerie Vermilion and Leanie Avirre). I have to admit that yeah—I am curious, alright. Can you blame me?

Well, I haven't posted my drawings of Ellerie and Leanie in my blog but…

…I will definitely post them after the MQTs.

I was thinking of inviting you guys to gimme your drawings of Ellerie and/or Leanie but it crossed my mind that some of you might be busy as well and all that. I am not taking down the invitation for the brave souls out there…but you are not required to submit a freaking drawing, okay? xD

That's all, Eartlings.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia**

So the old habit of writing during lecture time returned since my place inside the classroom…is a good place for sleeping, daydreaming, doodling, etc. (my friends despaired.)…plus I epically screwed my Biology MQT. Pretty cool, huh?

**Please leave a review**. Suggestions—if you want. xD

**Any kind of review**—from the nicest to the nastiest review—**will definitely do.**

* * *

After a flash of lightning, Ellerie grabbed Anya's shovel but the latter chanted something—something too soft and fast—that Ellerie was not able to catch. A second after the enchantment, she felt her right arm becoming slowly and terribly numb, causing her to let go of Anya's shovel. The shovel remained airborne for a second then it literally rushed back to its owner.

Anya Braginskiya's licorice black dress was already stained with blood—but the blood was not hers. Her black dress was smeared with her opponent's silver blood. Ellerie, on the other hand, already had multiple injuries (especially in the arms and legs). Her hands were already trembling because it seemed that her human body cannot take the amount of magic she's using.

The fact that she was losing made Ellerie greatly frustrated.

Despite the absence of the stars in the sky that served as their battlefield, Ellerie could clearly see the sinister and amused smirk of Anya Braginskiya. Anya was enjoying the battle because she (Ellerie) is losing easily…well, for someone who has high standards and all that, one can say that Ellerie was getting defeated easily.

Either Ellerie's human state was hindering her from winning or Anya became _that_ strong.

"What happened to one of the most well-known witches of the Otherworld?" Anya asked amusingly, looking at Ellerie from head to shoe then she shook her head regrettably. Ellerie rolled her eyes upon hearing the word _witch_.

"Correction, Anya. I am _not_ a witch." Ellerie said icily.

Heck, she is _not_ a witch, alright. A sorceress, maybe?

"Are you holding back?" Anya suddenly asked.

Yes—Ellerie was actually holding back. She did not want to return or revert to her supernatural state at the moment. It was pretty hard to make and wear a cloak of magic that would make her look, feel and act like a normal human being. She did not want her efforts to be wasted.

"Just state your intentions then _leave_." Ellerie said after a gust of chilly wind blew past her.

Anya chuckled darkly.

Ellerie couldn't be helped but be intrigued with Anya Braginskiya's presence in the mortal world. For someone who terribly hates blending in with normal people, being in the mortal world was like a living hell—and for one thing that Ellerie knew, Anya _hates_ human beings.

"Are you too excited to lie on your deathbed, young sorceress?" Anya asked, swinging her shovel back and forth while wearing the same smile she always had in her face.

Ellerie sighed wearily as another flash of lightning gave light to the dark, starless night sky for a few seconds.

_This will be a long, bloody night—literally._

* * *

_Is Alfred simply a _friend_ to you?_

She had no idea how to answer Meghan's question. She decided to stay dead silent until the bell rang for departure. She could tell that she disappointed Meghan because she left her question unanswered.

Alice did not know the answer to that question.

Too many things have changed for the past ten years. Too many drastic changes made Alice's life greatly miserable (there were times that she did not consider the changes to be negative…but 99% of those changes were negative—based on her point of view).

"Right now, I do not have the answer for that question…" Alice said to herself as she reminisced (there were times when she hated the fact that she always ends up reminiscing about the past)…

* * *

_It all happened one autumn afternoon…_

"_I think we are going to have new neighbors."_

_Alice blinked twice, trying to analyze what her mother told them. She glanced at Arthur but the latter was just silent. She tilted her head a little._

"_New…neighbors?" she asked. Their mother nodded slowly then stared at the new house that was across their own house. Alice embraced her knees and asked herself whether she should let this news affect her or not._

_Well, it seemed like she wanted to ignore the fact that they will have new neighbors—and they are about to live right across their house. How fancy._

_The Kirkland Twins are usually called anti-social because they are rarely seen outside their house, playing with the kids in their neighborhood. They'd rather stay inside their house and enjoy reading books…or something like that—something that _normal_ kids wouldn't want to do._

"_When will they arrive?" Alice asked, which effectively pulled her mother's attention away from the new house._

"_Tomorrow. Well, that is what your father said—"_

"_Wait. He knows someone from our…uh…future neighbors?" Alice asked, her brows furrowed out of confusion. Their mother simply smiled._

"_If my memory still serves me well, I think him and Mr. Jones have been friends ever since high school. Oh well…" their mother sighed and took a sip from her cup of tea._

_Oh great—since their father has some sort of connection with their future neighbors, there is a huge possibility that their anti-sociality will be gone. That is if they will do their best to be friendly and all that to the kid/s that belong in that family. Wait—how can they be sure that they'll have to deal with making new friends?_

_Alice hated the fact that her own twin has been silent during the whole conversation. Either he was thinking (or worrying) about the same matters that she's thinking about or he doesn't even care—at all._

* * *

_It was already 11: 54 in the evening and Alice could not sleep. At all._

_She found it weird that she was actually nervous and excited about the fact that they'll be having new neighbors tomorrow. Why was she so affected? It's not like it'll be her first time to witness a family moving into the neighborhood…_

…_but still, she was pretty much nervous and excited. In short, she had mixed emotions about the fact that they are about to have new neighbors._

_She rose from her bed and left the room as silently as possible. All the lights were already turned off. She went downstairs and found herself staring at the new house across their house…_

…_and here's the thing: there are already people inside the house._

_Alice's eyes widened. '_Why are they already here?!'_ Alice asked herself internally. She was pretty sure that her mother said—_

_And again, she asked herself why she was so affected._

_She wanted to go outside their house in order to have a closer look of the people inside the new house. Those people were already fixing their stuff and all that. She tried to convince herself that those people might only be hired workers but as soon as she successfully convinced herself, two persons entered the big picture…_

_A lady with wavy light brown hair that reached her shoulders entered the house along with a boy. The boy was probably the same age as her…or little younger. She was not able to see their faces—which made her frown._

_To go outside…or to stay inside—_

_Bloody hell—she MUST stay inside the house…besides, she'll definitely have the chance to meet their new neighbors, right?_

_She was simply too excited about it._

* * *

Alice sighed wearily as she stopped herself from reminiscing. She couldn't help but wonder…

If she did not even cared way back then, would she be experiencing all of _this_?

Who knows…

* * *

Ellerie shot without hesitation and the arrow failed to directly hit Anya Braginskaya and only managed to give her a scratch at her left cheek. Anya Braginskaya tilted her head and chuckled. "Are you discouraged to fight me seriously, Erielle?" she asked amusingly. Ellerie didn't answer her question and dematerialized from her spot. She materialized behind her opponent and before she (Anya) managed to move away, Ellerie grabbed her neck and threw her down. Anya managed to land in the middle of the air on her feet but now, she's beginning to obtain damages from her opponent.

"State your intentions, Anya!" Ellerie shouted from her place. Anya flipped her hair with the back of her right hand and snickered as she looked at Ellerie from her direction.

"You know I would not do that until I see your lifeless body on the ground."

As she swung her shovel, a wave of black energy mixed with purple smoke rapidly approached Ellerie. Ellerie raised her left hand to get a bow from the air and shot the black wave, causing it to split into half. She heard Anya hiss again.

"I won't die tonight, Anya Braginskaya. So just state your damn intentions! Elleie shouted again. Anya blinked then sighed.

"It really looks like you will not die tonight. Who am I kidding, anyway?" Anya asked as if she was talking to herself. "I will let you know some of my intentions." Anya extended her right hand towards Ellerie "Please come down here."

Ellerie hesitated for a while. It may be a trap…but since she was too tired for tonight, she decided to follow what Anya said.

"At least you still trust me. That is—"

"I don't think you have the heart to slaughter me—especially since we're not in an icy, wintery place." Ellerie interrupted, causing Anya to smile faintly.

"I am here to make sure that Alice Kirkland will be in good shape until _the right time comes_." Anya said—straight to the point.

"W-when…the right time comes?" Ellerie asked, her brows furrowed. Anya nodded slowly.

"Yes. Do not worry, though. As much as possible, I do not want to use her as a source of power for the Otherworld. That is simply inhuman—"

"That's something weird to hear from you. Since when did you get concerned about your actions, Anya Braginskaya?" Ellerie asked in a way that she sounded like she was accusing Anya.

"You hurt me, Erielle. Moving that aside, I will tell you one more thing before I let you go for tonight."

As a roll of thunder resounded, Anya took a deep breath. The moment she exhaled, it began raining really hard. Ellerie bit her lower lip as her wounds stung in chorus because of the rain.

"Because you have given me a worthwhile battle, I will tell you something that might actually make you happy. Are you ready?" Anya's voice lowered when she asked the 'Are you ready' part. Ellerie nodded.

"Arthur Kirkland is still alive."

* * *

I was supposed to make this chapter long (because of the battle between Anya and Ellerie) but I did not have the luxury of time to do that. Besides, if I made the battle long and complete, a character death would have occurred. I am not _that_ cruel.

**I think the next 2-3 chapters (I am estimating okay?) will be full of flashbacks—these flashbacks will hopefully make the story's plot clearer. **


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia**

Sorry for the late update!

I'm gonna put the announcement I am about to make in **bold and CAPS LOCK** so that you'll read it:

**I WILL NOT UPDATE FOR TWO WEEKS BECAUSE WE'LL BE HAVING OUR SECOND QUARTERLY TESTS ON OCTOBER 15, 17-19. I REALLY NEED TO PULL MY GRADES UP (ESPECIALLY IN BIOLOGY SINCE I GOT A FAILING GRADE) SO PLEASE BEAR WITH ME. SORRY AND THANK YOU! **

**Please leave a review**. Suggestions—if you want. xD

**Any kind of review**—from the nicest to the nastiest review—**will definitely do.**

* * *

_Two weeks to go before the Batch Formal._

_Everyone's already excited about the Batch Formal—the girls are already buying their dresses and waiting for their dream guys to ask them out for the Batch Formal. The boys, on the other hand, are finding ways to get a sweet 'yes' from those girls they want to ask out for the most-awaited event of the year._

* * *

It was a chilly Monday afternoon and the teachers were called off by their respective subject departments for a quarterly meeting. Because of this, the Class Adviser has decided to give the rest of the afternoon to her (awesome) batch for preparations and all that.

The High School Auditorium was (finally) reserved for the event. Leanie Avirre had to ask help from the Student Council's Head so that she could convince the one who was responsible for the HS Auditorium. Now, everyone was inside the air-conditioned auditorium.

"Okay, now that we finally have this auditorium for our Batch Formal, we can start setting up. Creative Committee?" It was Nea Tan who spoke in front of the microphone, catching everyone's attention—thanks to her loud voice despite the presence of a freaking microphone right in front of her.

"We'll provide the necessary things to make this place fabulous." The Creative Committee Batch Rep said, waving her hand with a thumbs-up sign. Nea grinned "Good, then! Now…" Nea looked around, trying to find Leanie and Max in the middle of the crowd "…where the hell did Lea and Max go—"

"WE'RE ALREADY HERE, NEA. YOU DON'T HAVE TO SHOUT RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE MICROPHONE!" Max Melidru shouted so loud that everyone's eyes were now focused on her. She was holding the auditorium's door wide open. Lea was beside her, carrying a bag full of shiny black envelopes.

"Ooh~ It looks like Lea already has the envelopes. Cool." Nea remarked as Lea approached her at the stage. Leanie took a deep breath before speaking.

"Sorry for the late appearance, fellas. I just printed the formal invitations for the Batch Formal. Pretty fancy, hmm?" Lea pulled out one black envelope from her bag and showed it in front of everyone. Most of the girls squealed, obviously excited.

"Chill down, girls. I'll ask Nea to distribute it to you, okay?" Lea said as she returned the black envelope inside the bag and handed it over to Nea. As Nea went down the stage, Lea looked at the crowd with an amused smirk in her face "So, may I ask the boys about their…_progress_?"

Silence from the boys' side.

Leanie nodded slowly "Wow, guys. What happened to your guts? Did they turn into tinkie-winkie?" Leanie asked amusingly. Before Leanie could continue mocking/helping the boys, one of them took the opportunity to do what he should have done a few weeks ago…

"GIVE ME THE MOMENT, LEANIE."

All eyes looked at Alfred F. Jones.

"Ahh…so it's you, Alfred. Go ahead." Leanie crossed her arms over her chest.

"Damn Sir Pun-squared—he always steals the fucking moment from me. Thanks, Leanie!" Alfred said. Leanie nodded. Now, he faced the girl who decided to stay behind him. "Alice, I swear to God that if Sir Palunz interrupts me again, I'm gonna shoot him with a very big-fucking-ass gun." he says in a threatening tone—he was obviously threatening the almighty Sir Pun-squared who was able to interrupt him for 6 consecutive times. "Alfred, don't even think about it—" Alice tried to step back but Alfred immediately grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to him "Don't even think of running away from me, Ally. You know I won't let you."

Alice knew how insistent Alfred could be. He won't stop until he gets what he wants. She could feel some of the girls in the crowd giving her icy and even death glares but Alfred does not seem to mind—at all.

"Ally—no. Alice Kirkland, I _want_ you to be my date for the Batch Formal—and I am not accepting a no for an answer." Alfred finally announced it to the whole world. Alice could feel her cheeks burning as red as a tomato. And now because of Alfred's announcement, the death glares became…worse. Basically, Alfred is not giving her a choice. She would be his date for the Batch Formal—whether she liked it or not.

Well, she actually wanted it…but sadly, her bitchy female batchmates (most of them) did not want that.

Before Alice could say yes, someone interrupted by clearing her throat.

"Uh, how sure are you that Alice is invited in the upcoming Batch Formal?" Abby Santiago asked, her unidentifiable (some—most—call it the 'Abbitchy Accent') accent ringing out in the air. Alice felt her hands holding Alfred's hands really tight. "Why would someone like _her_—" she pointed her finger at Alice "be invited for the Batch Formal?"

"Uhh because Alice Kirkland has an invitation for the Batch Formal~" Nea interrupted Abby, copying her Abbitchy Accent to completely humiliate Abby. After the crowd laughed because of what Nea did, Nea pulled out the last two black envelopes in Leanie's bag and handed it to Alfred and Alice.

"What the—_why_?! What is wrong with you, Lea?!" Abby asked, facing Leanie. The latter blinked twice before answering her question. "Alice is part of the batch, Abby. She'll be part of the Batch Formal whether you like it or not, understand?" Leanie said in a serious tone. Abby grimaced "Seriously?! She's an outcast, Leanie! Don't use your position as an officer—"

"Excuse me? Lea's not using her position as an officer right now, Abby Santiago." Max Melidru said out loud then she glared at Abby. "Here's the deal, Abby Santiago" Max stood right in front of Abby and looked at the latter's invitation "Alice will go to the Batch Formal—so either you shut up and let her come to the Batch Formal or," Max grabbed the invitation away from Abby "you stay home during Christmas Eve. Choose."

Abby's face turned red because of frustration plus humiliation. Without saying anything else, she walked out of the auditorium.

"Well, then. Nea, keep this invitation." Max handed Abby's invitation to Nea.

"So, Alice, are you gonna make Alfred wait until England becomes the 51st state of America or what?" Leanie asked after a few seconds of the awkward silence.

Alice's vivid green eyes finally met Alfred's blue eyes. Alice took a deep breath then smiled "I guess I have no choice. Please accept my warm _yes_, Alfred F. Jones."

And with that, Alfred gave her a very tight hug then carried her up—yep.

And the shocking thing about this is that everyone in the auditorium cheered for Alfred's success and Alice's 'yes' to Alfred.

Things are slowly…getting fixed, perhaps?

* * *

Finally Sir Pun-squared did not interrupt the Hero. xD

Sorry for the short chapter, guys. I'm really…gonna be in study mode for two weeks. Because of that, I tried my best NOT to leave a cliffhanger in this chapter.


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.**

HELL WEEK IS FINALLY OVER. Now, I just have to deal with the fact that I'll be RA (Roam Around) during the upcoming intramurals in our school. Well, whatever. And since I did not update for two weeks, **I have decided to make this chapter long**. How long, exactly? Go and read it yourself. xD

**Please leave a review**. Suggestions—if you want. xD

**Any kind of review**—from the nicest to the nastiest review—**will definitely do.**

* * *

Since Christmas was already around the corner, everyone were in their high spirits when the bell rang, signaling that the College Algebra Quarterly Exam was officially over. When the teacher finally left with their test papers, most of the class immediately grabbed their bags and left the classroom.

It seems that everyone would already go shopping not only for Christmas gifts and all that but also for their Batch Formal outfit. Since the Batch Formal is actually like a soiree, it is not necessary to wear a puffy gown or a tuxedo.

To be exact, it was just exactly one week before the much-awaited Batch Formal of the Seniors.

Unlike most of the girls who have decided to go to the mall and look for the perfect Batch Formal outfit, Alice Kirkland was heading home with her younger sister, Samantha Kirkland. After what happened in the gym a week ago, it seemed like half of her batch mates began to treat her normally. The reason behind that was unknown. Right now, she was a little bit thankful about the changes that were happening around her lately because for the first time, it seemed like it was good luck that decided to change things for her—not bad luck.

"You seem happy lately, Alice." Samantha teased when they were already out of the school premises. Alice glanced at Samantha, he brows furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?" Alice asked. "It's like your world suddenly found its light. Now, you're so…_positively_ different." Samantha replied then smiled. Alice covered her blushing cheeks with her white scarf "W-what?!" she stammered.

"I'm just happy to see that you're really happy, Alice." Samantha held her sister's hand tighter. Alice nodded slowly, a smile slowly curving her lips.

"I hope that you'll always be like that." Samantha added.

* * *

When Alice and Samantha arrived home, no one was inside. Alice opened the lights in the living room and in the kitchen. She placed her bag on the couch and began to cook dinner. She was quite thankful that her dad [suddenly] began to buy groceries for the family every other week. The only thing that she hated about it was the fact that the person who should be in charge of this task was still wasting money on nothing but liquor.

As Alice began slicing the beef into strips, she suddenly remembered how her mother taught her to slice beef into strips when she was younger. Of course, she was not _that_ good in cooking yet [especially her brother] that's why their mother was patient with them. She couldn't help but smile as she continued slicing the beef into strips perfectly. "If only you could see this, mom…" she mumbled. When she was done, she took a glass bowl from the cabinet and placed the strips of raw beef there. She was about to get broccoli from the refrigerator when Samantha suddenly called her name from upstairs. She tried not to run her way to Samantha's room—but she failed. When she arrived in her room, she saw Sam holding a piece of paper.

"What's that?" Alice asked.

"A note from Cordelia. She wants to have a word with you when she arrives from wherever she went." Samantha said as she threw the piece of paper into the trash bin. "It was actually taped on your bedroom's door so I took it and read it." Samantha added. "What does that slut want with me…" Alice sounded agitated when she said that. She let out a frustrated sigh then nodded "Fine. I'll let her have a piece of my mind—for once." Alice said and left Samantha's room.

* * *

"We already talked about this, didn't we?" Meghan looked like she was stopping her urge to literally hit her brother with the chair that was right next to her "You would not want to see a flying chair…towards you, would you?" Meghan added. Alfred pouted. "Meggy, why do you always become so dead serious when we're talking about mom and dad?" Alfred asked. Meghan glared at her "_They are our parents, Alfred!_" Meghan almost shouted. Alfred leaned his back against the wall "Meggy, I already asked permission from mom and she allowed me to go to the Batch Formal—"

"But dad did not say yes, did he?" Meghan interrupted.

"Dammit, Meggy. I haven't asked permission from him yet—"

"Well, do you think you'll be able to make him agree?" Meghan asked tauntingly. Alfred was beginning to be annoyed with Meggy's sudden change of attitude just because their mom allowed him to go to the Batch Formal like it won't affect their mom at all.

"She allowed you to go too, right? So can you just stop being so grouchy about this?" Alfred asked, clasping both hands on Meghan's shoulders. Meghan sighed. "Alfred, I just want to make them feel welcomed. That's all. I mean…wouldn't it be better if we would celebrate Christmas as a family?" Meghan said, avoiding her brother's gaze.

"But tell me, do you really want to go to the Batch Formal?" Alfred shook Meghan slightly.

"Y-Yes…" Meghan admitted.

"I think dad would like to see us wholeheartedly happy rather than being forced to stay with them." Alfred concluded.

"But Alfred—"

"I have already decided, Meggy. Besides, do you think I have the heart to leave Alice alone there? Meggy, I hope you understand." Alfred did not really talk to his sister like that but he just did.

Meghan pushed Alfred's hand away from her shoulders and went straight to her room.

"Oh, damn it all."

* * *

It was already 9 PM and Cordelia was not yet home. Alice was already growing impatient, waiting for the arrival of her slutty stepmother. Why was she even waiting for her? Since when did she even care about her stepmother's presence in their house?

While she continued waiting for the arrival of her stepmother, she decided to enter her room first, lock herself in it, and take out a small white box from her cabinet. She took a deep breath and exhaled before she opened the white box. Inside it were sentimental items. She did not know which one to pick out first.

Then she saw it.

She took out the empty box of band-aid from the white box and opened it. She shook it downwards until a ball of cotton stained with dried blood. The bloodstain was not _that_ much but one cannot simply avoid the fact that it's really blood.

"That klutz…"

* * *

_It has been a week since the Jones family's arrival in the neighborhood and Alice hasn't done any step at all in doing any form of human interaction with any member of the family. Her mother was beginning to worry about it so she decided to talk to Alice._

"_Alice? Are you in there?" her mother asked after knocking on the door. Alice glanced at the door after she closed the book she was reading. "Yes, mom. I'm here." she answered. Her mom opened the door and entered the room. She closed the door behind her and sat on Alice's bed. The rays of the afternoon sunlight emphasized the indescribable beauty of her mother—especially her baby blue eyes. _

"_Alice, I am greatly worried about your lack of human interaction from the outside world." her mother said straightforward to the point. Alice blinked then nodded slowly, embracing her knees "Is…is it really _that_ disturbing, mom?" Alice asked. Her mother shook her head slowly and gave a relieving smile "I am not saying that it is disturbing, dear. I am just saying that I think you need to have some (human) interaction with someone in the neighborhood." Alice clutched her head with her right hand and sighed. _

"_Alice. I know that you want to meet the Jones family. Do not deny it." her mother suddenly said. That's when Alice's vivid green eyes widened "W-what the—mom!" Alice stammered. Her mother chuckled and extended both of her arms towards Alice "Come here, dear. Please." Alice stood from her chair and sat on her mother's lap. Her mother locked Alice into her embrace "I am your mother, Alice. I can easily sense whether something is wrong about you and Arthur. Besides, it was Arthur himself who told me about how you'll look down from the window of your room each and every single moment the young boy from the house across ours comes out." _

_Alice was blushing red as a ripe tomato._

"_M-mom…I...I am just…I—"_

"_Instead of literally staring at the young boy from a distance, why don't you interact with him? It would be better to make him know that you exist." Her mother whispered near her ear._

"_I…I'm…not yet ready, I think." Alice answered softly._

"_Don't let fear cripple you from taking chances, dear." _

_Alice nodded, making her mother smile and free Alice from the lock of her embrace. "Go outside and let the afternoon sunlight shine upon you." her mother said and watched as Alice took her small white sling bag and walked out of her room. _

_Alice went downstairs, took out her white shoes from the shoes' cabinet, wore her white shoes as fast as she could and went out of their house…_

…_and at the exact moment when the door closed behind her, the young boy with the eyes blue as the summer sky went out of his house as well. Alice stayed frozen on the spot she was standing on. The young boy started running in the pavement all of a sudden after seeing a butterfly out of the blue. The young boy kept on running…and running… and running…_

…_then he suddenly tripped, hitting his knee on the ground. _

_Of course, he cried immediately—and the cry was pretty loud._

_Alice, completely ignoring her fear, ran across the street and helped the young boy._

"_Are you alright?" Alice asked._

_The young boy stopped crying for a second and met Alice's green eyes…_

…_after that, he cried again._

"_W-Wait...d-don't cry anymore, please…" Alice said as she opened her bag and shook it downwards. A bookmark, a black pen, a notepad, a bottle of alcohol, a small box of band-aid and a small plastic of cotton balls dropped out from the bag. Alice immediately picked up the small plastic of cotton balls and the bottle of alcohol. She opened the bottle and applied alcohol on the cotton ball she took from the plastic and looked at the young boy. Now, the young boy's cried weakened and he was looking at the ball of cotton with slight fear. Maybe he realized that Alice applied alcohol on it. He scooted backwards, making Alice slightly frown. "I know it hurts but I think _this_ will be better than letting your wound get infected. Come here, will you?" she extended her right hand towards the young boy._

"_B-but you did something to that…" the young boy pointed his finger at the cotton ball Alice was holding. Alice sighed and said "This thing will not eat you. Trust me." she said. _

"_Really?"_

"_Yes. Now, come here and let me treat your wound." Alice sat on her knees, her right hand still extended towards the young boy, and smiled._

_The boy scooted forward and grabbed Alice's right hand._

"_This might hurt a little so please bear with me…" Alice whispered as she slowly and carefully cleansed the wound with the cotton ball. Just like any normal human being would do—especially a kid—when an 'alcoholized' cotton ball would hit his/her fresh wound, the young boy cried but at the same time, he held Alice's hand tighter. Alice stopped for a few seconds to comfort the young boy "Just a few more…then this will be over, okay?" Alice said then continued cleaning the young boy's (shallow) wound. After cleaning the wound, she took the box of band-aid and took a piece of band-aid from it. "This is my last band-aid so I think you should consider yourself lucky…" Alice teased as she unpeeled the band-aid and placed it on the young boy's wound. Alice shook the young boy's hand and smiled "It's over now. That wound will heal."_

_The young boy stopped crying, looked at his wound (which was covered with band-aid), and smiled at Alice._

"_A-ALFRED! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!"_

_Alice and the young boy looked at the girl with purple eyes who was running towards them in chorus. The young boy whom the girl called 'Alfred' smiled and waved "Meggy! Meggy!" he cheerfully said. He didn't sound like he cried at all. The young girl sat on her knees beside Alice and looked at the young boy's wound "Sheesh…you injured yourself again? Mom will get mad again, you know…" she said then patted the young boy's head. Next, she looked at Alice and smiled shyly "Thank you for helping my brother. You see, Alfred's really reckless—"_

"_No, I'm not!" he interrupted._

"_Yes, you are!" the young girl shot back the continued talking to Alice "Anyway, thanks again. I'm Meghan Williams and _this_ reckless young boy in front of us is Alfred F. Jones." Meghan introduced. Alice found it weird that Meghan and Alfred did not have the same surname but she decided to remain silent instead of asking. "So, what's your name?" Meghan asked._

"_Alice Kirkland. I live in the house across your house, actually." Alice said. Meghan laughed shyly. "Really? I didn't see you coming out from that house. Nice to meet you—"_

"_Nice to meet you~!" Alfred interrupted—again._

"…_please stop talking out of the blue, Alfred. It's like I don't exist whenever you interrupt me." Meghan said icily to Alfred. The latter, unfortunately, ignored what Meghan said._

"_Let's play every day, okay? Promise me! Promise me!" Alfred grabbed Alice's hand and shook it excitedly. Alice blinked and Meghan facepalmed._

"_It's quite hard to believe that he's just a few months younger than me, right?" Meghan asked Alice with a weary smile. Alice nodded slowly "Indeed…" she muttered. She held Alfred's hand and nodded with a grin. "Okay, okay. We will play every day—if your mother and father would allow it." Alice said._

"_It's a deal, okay?"_

"_Okay."_

* * *

Alice realized that she was smiling like an idiot, causing her to swear. She returned the empty box of band-aid inside the white box and shook her head slowly. The next thing that took her attention was a blue ribbon. She was about to pick the blue ribbon when she suddenly heard the entrance door of the house creak open. She stood up, picked up the white box, closed it, placed it back in her cabinet and went out of her room. She was right—it was Cordelia who just went home. She was actually praying that Cordelia won't go home anymore. As usual, Cordelia was carrying shopping bags.

"So you read my note, huh? Good to know that you waited for me." Cordelia greeted. Alice crossed her arms over her chest "Samantha was the one who saw the note and told me about it. Tell me whatever you have to tell right now—"

"Are you too excited to hear my news, Alice? What on earth have you eaten, anyway?" Cordelia asked dully. Alice gave her a blank stare. Cordelia smirked and placed all her shopping bags on the sofa "Fine, I'll tell you. I'm going back to Ireland with my kids next week for the Christmas break. Apparently, your father wants to stay here for you and Samantha instead of coming with me. Don't expect me to force you and Sam to go with us so that I could just force Henry to come with me. Besides, I don't even give a fuck about it. So, enjoy the Christmas while you still can, brat. Enjoy it while you still can." Cordelia picked up all her shopping bags and went upstairs. She purposely bumped Alice before she entered her room. When the door closed, Alice punched the air with her fist with a huge smile in her face.

Everything was definitely going well for her. It was like tasting the rainbow of normality (and luckiness) after a very long time.

* * *

Here comes another Author's Note, guys.

Sorry if the length of Chapter 15 did not satisfy you. I am currently having a taste of the rainbow of freedom here. And I am making the Chapter 2 of "**Stuck in NeverNever**" too so I was actually multitasking but I don't care at all.

The Batch Formal Chapter's just around the corner so stay tuned ;)


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.**

First things first—HAPPY NEW YEAR, MINNA~! 2013'S HERE, BABY! XD

Please let me explain.

Sorry for not updating _The Witch and the Hero_ for two months. I have several reasons for accidentally abandoning this fanfic. I'll explain the reasons later in the Author's Note so that you can read this chapter first.

Again, I am terribly sorry. Please forgive me~

**Please leave a review**. Suggestions—if you want. xD

**Any kind of review**—from the nicest to the nastiest review—**will definitely do.**

* * *

_This. Is. It._

It's still hard to believe—that's for Alice Kirkland, that is.

Who knew that she would actually survive for this night. Sure, it's (just) Christmas Eve for others…but for their batch—and for her, too—it's their Batch Formal. The Batch Formal is like prom…but it's not really prom. It's like a legal version of a soiree and Juniors' Night—combined.

"Alice! Alice! Alice! Dress up already!"

Alice buried her face in her pillow as Sam entered her room. Her little sister was so excited for the whole thing that it was Sam who helped her shop for her Batch Formal outfit. The young Kirkland was actually an expert when it's all about fashion. Alice was speechless during the actual shopping.

Shopping—they did not have a problem 'bout that. Seems that their father's also excited. So, he also came with his daughters in the shopping. He was like the walking ATM of the Kirkland Sisters. Luckily, for Alice and Sam, their stepmom and her children were in Ireland.

"Sam! Is this really real?" Alice asked, her face still buried in her pillow. Sam sat beside her and clasped a hand over her shoulder "Stop emoting and all that! You don't want your prom date to wait for you, right?" Sam teased. Upon hearing the words _prom date_, Alice blushed. _Alfred. Ugh. It's all because of him—not really all of it but he's one of the main reasons why I'll be attending the Batch Formal tonight—_

"Alice~ c'mon! Don't wait for me to drag you out of your bed!" Sam stood up and prepared Alice's Batch Formal attire. Alice slowly moved out of her bed, glancing at the clock. _6:38 PM_. The Batch Formal will start at 7:45 PM—

"Look at the dress! It's so lovely. Right? Please say yes!" Sam said as she took out the dress from Alice's closet. The dress has a silver sequin top (the sequins looked like gems from afar, actually—it was the first thing that caught Sam's attention during the dress hunt). The beautiful beadwork descends throughout the salmon pink dress. Based on Sam, the dress was "sparkly and charming".

"Sure, Sam. It is lovely since you chose it. Now, "Alice grabbed the dress from Sam with a playful smile in her face "wait for me outside. I can fix myself. On my own." And with that, Sam shrugged and left the room. Alice closed the door and even locked it.

_Congratulate yourself, Alice Kirkland…_Alice said to herself as she looked at the dress. She glanced at the mirror of her dresser, meeting the gaze of her reflection. _…who would've thought that you'd reach this point of your life smoothly? Pretty magical, yes?_ she asked herself. She shook her head slowly and fixed herself for the Batch Formal.

* * *

Time Check: 7:59 PM

"Leanie!" Nea greeted the former with a huge grin. Beside Nea Tan was her partner for tonight's Batch Formal, Justin Salonga. Leanie smiled at Nea then at Puck "Wow. This is one hell of a bloody miracle." Leanie teased. Nea gasped and slapped Leanie's shoulder. After that, the three of them laughed in chorus. "S-Shut up, Lea!" Nea said. Leanie rolled her eyes with an unreadable smile in her face—the smile was somewhere between happiness and sadness. "Oh, Nea. I am proud of you." Leanie said as she took a candy from the candy jar in the sweets' area. Without waiting for Nea Tan to reply, she left the ""couple"".

"It seems that the Events' Head does not have a partner for tonight."

Leanie glanced back and saw Chantelle Raven—her ex-bestfriend.

Leanie crossed her arms over her chest "Ohh. It seems that you are too observant." she said as she looked at Chantelle from head to heels. Who would've thought that someone who used to be one of the most nonexistent people in the HS society is now one of the famous ones. The funny thing about Chantelle's way of getting popular (Leanie thought it was funny—in a terribly bitter way) was that she did it through indirect backstabbing and indirectly tarnishing someone's name. How? She does not want to tell the story anymore.

"It's too noticeable, you see." Chantelle replied with a smirk. "FA much Leanne?" she added. Before Leanie could reply, Chantelle's partner, a football varsity player, approaches the two of them. Chantelle's smirk got bigger. Leanie, on the other hand, was already laughing internally. Leanie glanced at the varsity player then gave a cold gaze at Chantelle "You know, Chantelle, stop being such an arse—at least for tonight. Besides," she smiles innocently "I'd rather be alone in this legalized soiree rather than date a _gay_." Leanie gave so much emphasis on the word _gay_ that it made the varsity player look away. With that, Leanie gave a casual salute and left the two of them.

Before Leanie was able to pass through the entrance-slash-exit, she stopped in her tracks upon seeing Alice. For a few seconds, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. After Alice said goodbye to her dad and the car left, she said hi to Leanie.

"Alice. Alice…you look amazing!" Leanie said. Alice looked at her dress then tucked a portion of her hair behind her ear. "Thanks, Leanie." she said. "you know, you should always keep your hair down! You really look…fantastic!" Leanie added. After a few seconds, Leanie's smile slowly faded as she noticed something odd. "Alice…where the hell is Alfred?" she asked. "Ah. _That_. We'll just meet here." Alice replied immediately. Leanie nodded despite the fact that she was not pretty much convinced. "If that bastard does not show up tonight, he'll have his balls kicked." Leanie said threateningly. Alice couldn't help but laugh. After a while, Leanie took sighed as she crossed her arms over her chest "Let's wait for that douche to come, shall we?" she asked. Alice simply nodded.

* * *

Time check: 8:26 PM

_Where is he…is he going to show up…or…or maybe…did he just…did he just…_

Alice clutched her head with her hand and sighed wearily. She wanted to stop herself from thinking that Alfred actually ran away from her or something like that. Leanie was still with her…but the Events' Head was already worried…and at the same time, she was already preparing herself for hitting Alfred the moment he arrives.

"Where the hell is he…" Leanie asked no one in particular. Alice, trying to distract herself from her thoughts, looked at Leanie and tried to change the subject. "Leanie…" Alice began. Leanie looked at her "Hmm? What?" Leanie asked. Alice looked at the night sky "Did Ellerie tell you whether she'll come or otherwise?" Alice asked. Leanie scratched her head lazily while squinting her eyes slowly "Ahh…Ellerie did not say anything. Didn't she say anything to you?" the black-haired girl asked innocently. Alice shook her head helplessly. She was thinking whether Ellerie was still mad at her—

"_Ally!"_

Alice's eyes widened upon hearing someone calling her. Alice could feel her heart beating like a drum. She held her chest, took a deep breath, and watched as her partner finally entered the big picture. After what it seemed to be like a million hours of waiting, she could finally prove to the pessimistic voice inside her head that her partner did not leave her hanging in the middle of the air.

"Alfred! Damn it, Alfred!" Alice was not able to stop herself from running to Alfred and hugging him tightly. The young lad embraced her back and even lifted her up in the air. "Damn it, you burgerhead! I thought…I thought—" Alice tried to stop herself from crying. She should not be crying tonight. Instead of crying and all that, she should be happy now because her prince was finally with her. Unfortunately, the tears were already rolling down from her green eyes, making Alfred's light blue polo wet with her tears. "A-Ally?! Why are you crying?! Hey!" Alfred smiled nervously, trying to find a way to calm Alice. After a nanosecond or two, Alfred's nervous smile shifted into a soft smile as he wiped away Alice's tears with the back of his hand "I'm already here, okay? I'm already here. Now, stop crying." he said. "Besides," he looked at Alice from head to heels then pinched her cheek lightly "you shouldn't be crying 'cause you look really beautiful. Crying will make you ugly, you know…" he added.

"If I were you," Leanie approached the couple, glaring daggers at Alfred "I'd escort Alice inside now. Besides, " she pulled up the sleeves of her sand brown cardigan "I know you would not want to go home with aching balls, right?" she asked with a threatening smile. Alfred blinked twice before answering Lea's question "C-Calm down, Lea—"

"_CALM. DOWN?! YOU MADE YOUR DATE WAIT FOR YOU, YOU SICK BASTARD!" _Leanie shouted as she slapped Alfred's shoulder over and over again. Alice pulled Alfred away from Leanie and stepped between the two of them. "Lea! I-It's okay now. You don't have to fight him, okay?" Alice patted Lea's shoulder. The latter sighed and raised her hands lazily in the air "Fine, Alice. I surrender. I'll let you have fun with your date now. _Go_." Lea smiled after saying the word _go_. With that, Alfred held Alice's hand and the two of them entered the gymnasium.

* * *

Time check: 10:43 PM

"It's already time for _the_ dance, guys." Nea told Leanie. Leanie was the one assigned with the music bar now since she was not actually doing anything (since like what Chantelle Raven said a while ago, Leanie does not have a date). Lea nodded, looking for a particular track. "Nea T. Salonga, your husband's waiting for you—" Lea teased, making Nea strangle her for a second. After that, Nea bade farewell to Leanie and went back to the scene.

After finding the particular track she was looking for, Lea grabbed the mike and spoke. "Well, my dear batchmates, prepare yourselves now. Dancing like madmen and madwomen would have to be stopped for a moment. Now," Leanie stopped the current music that was playing and prepared to play the track she looked for "grab your partners and," she pressed the play button lazily "_dance_."

As the music began to play, Alice looked at Alfred. Alice immediately spotted the nervousness in Alfred's blue eyes. Alice stood in front of Alfred and took a few steps away from him. She extended her right hand "Come on, Alfred. Dance with me—"

"Ally…" Alfred glanced at Alice's hand then laughed nervously "…_I don't know how to_—" Alice grabbed Alfred, not allowing him to finish what he was saying "Hush, dear. Do not worry," Alice faced Alfred after they got a good spot in the crowd "Give it a try. _Please_."

_The room's hush, hush…_

_And now's our moment…_

_Take it in, feel it all, and hold it…_

_Eyes on you, eyes on me…_

_We're doing this right…_

Alice took one of Alfred's hands and guided the other to her shoulder. Alice stepped forward, making Alfred almost trip. Biting his lower lip, Alfred tried his best to match Alice's steps.

_Cause lovers dance, when they're feeling in love…_

_Spotlight shining, it's all about us…_

_It's oh~ oh~ all…_

_About uh~ uh~ us…_

_And every heart in the room will melt…_

_This is a feeling I've never felt…_

_But it's all about us…_

Alfred was panicking inside his head. There was part of him in the back of his head that told him to stop…but it seemed that he was already getting the hang of it. Internally, he pushed away the thought of stopping in the middle of the dance. '_Heroes also dance, alright. I'll freaking prove that.'_ He said to himself encouragingly. Pushing all his hesitations aside, Alfred pulled Alice into a spin that ended with Alice against his chest.

_Suddenly, I'm feeling brave…_

_Don't know what's gotten into me…_

_Why I feel this way…_

_Can we dance, real slow?_

_Can I hold you, real close?_

Alice couldn't help but chuckle. "That's it, Alfred. Stop thinking and just dance…" she muttered. Alfred spun her again, making her smile more. When was the last time she felt this…this free…and happy…she could no longer remember. She allowed the dance to go on as if they were the only ones dancing. _Forget about the audience, Alice. For tonight, feel free…_ the young blonde said to herself.

_Do you hear that, love? They're playing our song…_

_Do you think we're ready? I'm feeling it…_

_Do you hear that, love? Do you hear that, love?_

Alfred lifted her slowly and spun her, making her blush red as a ripe tomato. She closed her eyes and raised her hands up in the air. As the young lad slowly put her down, Alice hung her arms over Alfred's shoulders. Alfred pulled Alice closer to him, his face now a few inches away from Alice's. "Ally, I don't want this night to end, you know…" Alfred whispered. Alice nodded "Same here…" she replied.

As the chorus of the song played for the last time, Alfred closed his eyes and kissed Alice's lips. Alice was left speechless—internally. She was totally unprepared for the kiss (despite the fact that her face was just a few inches away from Alfred's). All the feelings inside her chest seemed to burst. She could not describe what she was feeling right now. For a split second, she even asked herself whether it was right for her to allow Alfred to kiss her or otherwise…but the freaking split second passed and before Alfred could move away from Alice, Alice tiptoed and kissed Alfred back.

_I do not give a damn about what is wrong and what is right at this very moment. Right now, everything's completely and perfectly right…_

* * *

Time check: 11:48 PM

"_Mon amour, _you seem to be a little tipsy now." Francis caressed Alice's cheek fondly. For the first time in her entire life, Alice got drunk. She has never _ever_ gotten so drunk before…since she did not even drink liquor in the first place. Of all the people she could be alone with, why did it have to be the fucking French frog? She had no idea how she became stuck alone with Francis _freaking_ Bonnefoy inside the small room behind the stage. The last thing she could remember before all of this happened, Leanie bade farewell to her and Alfred—wait…_where the hell is Alfred anyway?_

"J-Just…j-just…shut…_s-hut the fuck up_…w-will you?" Alice spat, trying to stand up. Unfortunately, she lost balance and fell on the floor. She leaned against the not-so-old sofa that she was sitting on a few moments ago. Her vision was beginning to be blurry, causing her to swear without ceasing…internally. Who the fucking hell would want to be raped right before Christmas?!

"_Ma chere belle, _maybe it's time for you to lie down." Francis said seductively, making Alice panic. She tried to stand up again but her body was too passive to obey the orders of her brain. "H-Hell no, y-you…you…fucking dicktard…" Alice decided to drag herself away from the freaking sofa and from the human embodiment of STDs.

And the human embodiment of the feared STDs in this fucked up earth sat behind Alice and embraced her passionately. Alice did not really like where this whole thing was going. She slapped Francis' arms away but the latter pressed his lips against her ear, sending freaky chills down her spine.

"_HOLY SWEET HELL, FRANCIS! GET OFF ME, YOU FLACKING DICK! GET OFF ME RIGHT NOW, YOU RAPIST!" _Alice yelled as she elbowed the perverted Frenchman. For a moment, Alice was thankful that she was louder whenever she's drunk (but hey—isn't it her first time to be drunk?) but then, she screamed as Francis grabbed her by the waist and pulled her down. Now, she was lying on him—literally.

"Alice, don't fight anymore. You won't regret this—" Francis said as he shifted, making Alice being the one lying on the ground now while he was—

Alice heard the door slam against the door really hard (so hard that it could've destroyed the freaking wooden door, alright). "Francis, don't even think about raping _my _girlfriend." Alfred said to Francis darkly. Alfred sounded really frightening. Alfred immediately grabbed Alice away from Francis and punched Francis' face. Really hard.

* * *

Time check: 12:01 AM

"I'll bring you home now, Ally." Alfred said as he walked out of the gymnasium, carrying Alice behind her back. The young lady was now dead silent. "Tell me where you live." Alfred said after a few seconds.

"_I won't. I won't l-let you see my house…"_ Alice muttered.

He already called Leanie right after he rescued Alice from Francis the Rapist. Surprisingly, Leanie did not know where Alice lived. He asked some of their batchmates. One said where Alice lived…but Alfred did not know the place…plus, he did not want to believe what the girl said…since (as far as his memory remembers) she's one of Abby's comrades.

"Dammit, Alice. Just tell me." Alfred said. Alice groaned then laughed. Obviously, Alice was too drunk to answer him seriously. He had no other option left but to bring Alice home to his house then bring her home to her house the next day. Besides, he just escaped from their house. So, he does not have any form of transportation with him (Meggy hid the keys of their car—just in case).

"Fine, then. If you won't tell, I have no other choice but to bring you home to _my_ house." Alfred said. Alfred stopped after a few minutes since Alice did not respond. When he glanced at Alice, the latter was already asleep. He smiled wearily and continued walking home.

* * *

**Author's (very long) Note:**

I'm back, guys!

Sorry for the two-month hiatus. Originally, I was supposed to write 016 last year…but the Third Quarter in our school made it impossible for me to have time for writing 016. Our teachers gave us projects one after another. The deadlines and the tests fell on the same days—which made it harder for me to find time.

I tried to write 016 again after the third quarterly tests but the next thing I knew, we were so busy for our school's vigil. And again, Christmas break came and I tried to write but I had this very long Writer's Block (it even affected my other writing projects. Trust me—it was so frustrating).

One night (on the first day of 2013, to be exact), I received a PM from **TheAwesomeMe928**, asking when I will update. That's when it hit me that I was supposed to update The Witch and the Hero but I abandoned it because I was too busy. So, I asked for a blogger's help in Tumblr—I asked for a prom playlist. Luckily, I asked help from the right person and it's all thanks to her playlist that I was able to write a very long Chapter 016.

I cannot promise all of you that I'll be able to update regularly since it's already Fourth Quarter in our school…and usually, it's in the Fourth Quarter when we (the students there—particularly the HS peeps) suffer like hell leveled up to the extreme. But as much as possible, I want to update…**especially now that the story's becoming more complicated and I'm beginning to throw bombs of plot twists and surprises in this FanFic**.

Before I end this very long Author's Note, I just want to say thank you to those who still continue to read The Witch and the Hero despite the…uh…complicated-ness of the story. I really appreciate it. *insert superultramegahyper hug here*

Btw, to those who want to know what song I used for _the_ dance, I used _All About Us _by He is We feat. Owl City.

That's all, Earthlings! Love ya'll!


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.**

It's almost summer vacation (for me)—which means that my Sophomore year is almost over. If my memory still serves me right, I only have **14 SCHOOL DAYS left**. And because of that, I have decided to try and update all the fics that I left in hiatus because of the Fourth Quarter Wave in our school.

**Please leave a review**. Suggestions—if you want. xD

**Any kind of review**—from the nicest to the nastiest review—**will definitely do.**

* * *

It was just 3:49 AM of Christmas day when Alice woke up from her sleep. She looked around and was really confused. Instead of waking up and finding herself in her own room, she found herself inside someone else's. She wanted to figure out whose room she was in plus how she ended up in said person's room but her headache was too massive that she wanted to bang her head on the wall over and over again until the headache was gone.

Despite the massive headache, she tried her best to stand up and walk around the whole room to (at least) find out whose room she was in. When she was able to stand up, she noticed that she was wearing an oversized Captain America shirt that reached her mid-thighs. That's when she finally realized that she was, of course, inside Alfred's room. Unfortunately, the story behind how she ended up here was still unclear to her.

She walked out of the room and immediately shivered. She glanced at the nearest window and was greeted by the view of nothing but white snow. She looked around and noticed that all the doors were closed. Because of that, she decided to go downstairs. As she took a step, she tried her best to remember what happened the night before. All she could remember was that they had a Batch Formal. The specific order of events during that night was still unclear to her. When she stepped on the last step, the lights of the living room suddenly opened, which caused her to step back and trip. It was strange that she did not swear, shrieked, or made any kind of noise that would wake up everyone who was inside the house.

"Are you alright?"

Alice met a pair of electric blue eyes. She looked at the lady from head to shoe afterwards. The lady in front of her had wavy brown hair that was tied in a loose ponytail. She was wearing a white tank top and blue pajamas. The slippers she was wearing were dark blue and fluffy. She was holding a mug of hot coffee, too. The lady extended her free hand towards Alice. "Do you need help?" she asked. Alice shook her head as she stood up. When Alice was able to stand up successfully, the lady smiled at her.

"Do you mind staying with me for a little while?" she asked Alice. Alice simply nodded. The lady walked to the nearest sofa and sat on it. Alice sat on the sofa across the sofa that the lady was sitting on. The latter took a sip from her mug of coffee before she decided to speak again.

"How are you feeling right now?" she asked.

"I…I feel fine, ma'am." Alice managed to say.

"That's good. You really looked haggard when Alfred brought you here," the lady said after she placed her mug on the glass table that was placed between the two of them. Alice looked down, trying to cover her reddening cheeks. She heard the lady giggle. "He really had no idea how he was supposed to…uh…fix you." The lady continued. "He should consider himself lucky because Meggy and his daddy were already asleep when he came home. So, I assisted him." The lady tucked a strand of her wavy brown hair behind her ear. "Right now, he's sleeping inside my room." She finished.

"Excuse me, ma'am…but…may I ask who you are?" Alice asked. The lady leaned her back against the backrest. "Ah—I forgot to introduce myself, eh? How impolite of me…" the lady scratched her head for a second or two. After that, she looked into Alice's green eyes.

"I'm Liliana F. Jones. I'm Alfred's mother. And I want to talk with you while I still have the chance to do so."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

This is the shortest chapter I've written for _The Witch and the Hero _so far. Of course, there are several reasons behind this short chapter—_**a**_) This chapter was really meant for the introduction of Alfred's (young-ish and awesome) mom _**b**_) This chapter is also the 'opening' for the upcoming chapter.

I think I'll write Chapter 18 during the first day of my official summer vacation—so it means that you have to wait for like…two weeks, I guess? _**But at least Chapter 18 will be long—**__as far as my plotting notebook is concerned._

That's all, Earthlings!


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.**

"_I think I'll write Chapter 18 during __**the first day of my official summer vacation**__—so it means that you have to wait for like…two weeks, I guess?"_ these were the exact words I typed in the A/N of Chapter 017, yes? (Un)fortunately, I was so lazy to do all my projects and all the other school-related shiz I had to finish and _POOF—_before I knew it, I was already typing 018! Ha. Ha. Ha.

**Please leave a review**. Suggestions—if you want. xD

**Any kind of review**—from the nicest to the nastiest review—**will definitely do.**

* * *

"I'm Liliana F. Jones. I'm Alfred's mother. And I want to talk with you while I still have the chance to do so."

After hearing this, Alice felt like she was slapped in the face and she was pulled back into reality with that slap she felt. She stared at Liliana with horror, shock, and fear combined altogether. Liliana crossed her legs and placed her hands on her lap. "From your reaction, I guess you still remember me. Yes?" she asked, her tone changing from the friendly, casual one she had a few moments ago into a serious one. Alice could only nod. With that, Liliana looked at Alice from head to toe. "Look at you, Alice. You've grown up so much. The last time I saw you, you were still a kid." She said. Alice remained silent. "Do you still remember what happened before?" Liliana asked. Alice looked down, her fists clenched.

"Yes…I still—"

"Then may I ask you what you are doing?" Liliana interrupted. Alice was not able to speak and with that, she grabbed the opportunity to continue speaking. "Alice, I almost lost my son ten years ago—and I do not want to lose him again." Liliana said straight to the point. Alice felt like her chest was stabbed over and over again. Despite this, she looked into Liliana's eyes. "Ma'am, I lost a dear friend that night—and it hurt so bad I almost lost my sanity. I…_we_ did not want that to happen to him." Alice said, trying to stop the tears from rolling down.

"I know. I am not blaming you, Alice…but everyone else in this family does—especially Meghan." Liliana said, uncrossing her legs. Alice waited for Liliana to continue talking. "Sorry. I think I got carried away with what I was supposed to say." Liliana suddenly apologized. She stood up and looked away from Alice. "I was not planning to make you feel guilty all over again, Alice." She added.

"I…I tried to push him away, ma'am. Believe me." Alice began. Liliana looked at her, her expression telling Alice that she wanted to hear more of her side. "I tried…but…no matter how horrible I treated him, he did not give up. I tried to keep my promise ten years ago b-but—" Alice stopped and began sobbing. Alice did not know why she was not able to stop herself from sobbing—it frustrated her so much (the fact that she ended up sobbing). Liliana sat beside Alice and patted her back.

"I believe you, Alice. Trust me. It's just that…we're afraid that with the way things are going lately, the whole tragedy might happen all over again. And this time, we might actually lose him." Liliana said honestly and vulnerably at the same time. It seemed that she was trying to stop herself from crying, too.

"Alice, when we found out that Alfred…was…" Liliana tried her best to continue but it felt like saying another word would shatter her composure and she'd also end up sobbing. She took a deep breath and tried again.

"When we found out that Alfred went out of the house that night to meet you at your secret meeting place, we tried our best to chase him—to get him back—despite the heavy snowfall. Just when we were _so_ close to getting him back, Meghan—of all people—witnessed how her younger brother got hit by a truck while he was crossing the last street that he needed to cross in order to see you for one last time before we…were supposed to leave. That night, we felt that Alfred was slowly being stolen from us—death was trying to take him away. While we were in the hospital, anxiously waiting for what was to come, Meghan called your family to inform _you_ of what happened. I can remember you crying as you ran to us in the middle of the empty hallway of the hospital, asking over and over again what would happen to Alfred. I also remember how hard you tried to ignore the unwelcoming stare of my husband—and because of that, you were able to drive him out of the scenario," Liliana felt that the tears were slowly rolling down from her eyes but she continued "After waiting and waiting _and_ waiting, the doctors finally went out of the OR and told us that Alfred's still alive…b-but…" Liliana was no longer able to continue and began crying. Alice, who was able to stop sobbing, took the liberty of finishing the retelling of what happened during the night that she

almost

lost

her

one

and

only

…

…

…

"When you and your family visited him in his room, he was already awake. I was outside the room, watching what was happening by peeking at the small gap you lot left after closing the door behind your backs. I watched as he looked at each and every single one of you without saying a word or two. After the long, deafening silence, he asked _'What happened?' _and none of you were able to answer that question—for a while. It was Meghan who took the liberty of explaining the whole accident…but after the long, long story, Alfred was looking at her with so much confusion and with that, he asked _'Who is Alice?'_—hearing that completely crushed me, Mrs. Jones!" Alice was not able to hide her anger anymore. She pointed at herself "_That was the night when I began losing every single person that I love—and of all the people that I had to lose first, it had to be Alfred!" _

Liliana stared at Alice, distressed with what she just heard from the young Brit.

"A—"

"Mom? What the hell is going on?"

Liliana and Alice looked at Alfred in chorus. The latter looked at the two females who were looking at him. He noticed that the two looked like they cried—especially Alice. "A-Alice…?" he called but said lady turned back and ran out of the house. Alfred ran down the stairs to chase Alice but Liliana blocked his way, her hands on her hips.

"This is none of your business, Alfred. Let me handle this—"

"But, mom—"

"_Alfred Franklin Jones." _Liliana looked into her son's eyes. Alfred felt defeated and with that, he cussed internally and went back to his room. After hearing his son slam the door of his room shut, Liliana looked at the opened door of their house.

"I almost lost my son once…_and I won't let that happen again_."

* * *

Alice stopped running the moment she was able to run past the gates of Alfred's house. It was snowing and she found it strange that she was not freezing to death with what she was just wearing. She fell on her knees and she began crying—again.

"Did you see this before?"

She looked around and met the serene orange eyes of Ellerie Vermilion.

"E-Ell—"

"How much was I missing out, Alice?" Ellerie asked as she approached Alice Kirkland. Alice was still asking herself (internally) whether she was hallucinating or otherwise. Ellerie stopped in front of Alice and she sat on her knees so that she could take a closer look at Alice.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I…I…I have no idea what the bloody hell is happening anymore." Alice replied monotonously. Ellerie _tsk_ed and grabbed her friend by the shoulders. "You saw this, didn't you? You already knew that all of this—"

"I did. I did. _I saw all of this coming yet I did not do anything to stop all of them from hitting me." _Alice interrupted. She looked into Ellerie's eyes and this time, she pushed Ellerie's hands away from her. "Where the hell were you?!" she asked.

"Somewhere. Yes, somewhere—and you should no longer ask anything else 'bout it. Right now, you should go home and fix yourself." Ellerie said as she stood up and shook the snow off her pants. She extended her right hand to Alice. "Hey, aren't you freezing right now or something?" Ellerie asked jokingly, looking at Alice's shirt. Alice took her friend's hand and stood up.

"I have no idea."

* * *

A pair of gleaming crimson eyes was focused at Alfred F. Jones. The latter had no idea that someone was actually _watching_ him (since he's asleep). The pair of crimson eyes looked away from the sleeping lad and looked at the sky that was stained by rays of the morning sun. The lady with the crimson eyes lazily twirled her hair with her index finger, an amused smile curving her lips. After a short while, she jumped down from the branch of tree she was sitting on and landed on the thick, white snow that covered the whole ground. She glanced back at the window of Alfred's room and shook her head slowly.

"_Who knew that someone like you will be the one to shatter her over and over _and over_ again…_" the lady muttered as she walked away from the house and disappear as if she was not there in the first place.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Hohoho!

I know that I told ya'll that Chapter 018 will be written (and posted) on the first day of my summer vacation. Well, I was so tempted to write 018 and since I finished the whole chapter already, I've decided to post it now instead of posting it…on the date I was supposed to post it.

Chapter 019 will be the one written (and posted) on my first day of summer vacation, 'kay?

That's all, Earthlingsssss~!


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